Searching for the Heir of the Time Lord
by arKlight.RevIsion
Summary: Sequel to Chance Meeting. Carter and Sadie find a prophecy, which tells of the only possible demigod son of Kronos. Now, they go on a quest to find him, before the other Titans do, and use him to destroy the gods. But what will happen? Review please.
1. We get a quest, AGAIN

**Hey guys! Sequel Here. Now, **_**a few reminders before you read this story.**_** This happened a week after the Serpent's shadow, and the book did happen, just with a few minor changes:**

**1. Sadie never fell in love with Walt. (Sadico, duh!)**

**2. Heroes of Olympus never happened.**

**3. The Romans never existed in the first place. They still had demigods, though it was rare, but no Camp Jupiter. (When Rome fell, the entire empire fell, even the legions.)**

**4. Oh, and most importantly, THE KISS BETWEEN SAIDE AND WALT IN THE END OF THE BOOK NEVER HAPPENED! **

**Well, that's about it. Enjoy reading!**

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Hello, Sadie here.

I'd rather tell you all about how our adventure began first. If I handed the mike over to Carter, your eyes would glaze over from boredom. It's a known fact, but Carter stinks at storytelling.

[Shut it, Carter. You do!]

Anyway, it was just a week after we finally defeated Apophis, thanks to one crazed magician, some less-than-helpful gods, and a shadow. (Don't ask.) The few trainees that we had gathered since our meeting with the Greeks had increased tenfold, with magicians-to-be emerging at our doorstep every day. Not that I'm complaining, but teaching fifty kids is _seriously _tiring work.

It was a fine day at Brooklyn House. (Yes, we fixed it, _again. _I still haven't forgiven Percy for trashing my room, though.)Carter and I were busy eating our breakfast, chatting about the usual things: his girlfriend Zia, _my _boyfriend Nico (a slightly more interesting matter), who had promised to visit me tomorrow, and all that stuff. Some of our senior trainees, like Walt, Jaz, Alyssa, and Cleo, were with us at the table, drumming their fingers on the table and basically waiting for us to finish. Walt kept eyeing me, though he probably thought that I didn't notice. He still had that lovesick look he had on ever since we took Bes' shadow from Neith's temple.

Let me explain. Walt Stone, our resident _sau,_ or amulet maker, was one of the first trainees to appear. He was really good, except for the fact that he was dying from Akhenaton's curse, but that was cured when he became Anubis' host, so we're good on that one. He was very sweet, charming, and not to mention good-looking to. From the moment he saw me, he had convinced himself that I was his destiny, and vice-versa. Even after I explained to him that I already had a boyfriend, he still refused to give up! Under normal circumstances, that would be the type that would make me fall head-over-heels in love with them, but since I already had a boyfriend, other boys would just have to do with friendship. One time, he even had the nerve to kiss me, without my permission! Of course, Nico chose that time to appear out of the shadows, and basically, a very entertaining, but overly destructive, fight occurred between the two. It took some, well a _lot_, of explaining just to get Nico to calm down. Walt, well he was another matter. He accused Nico of stealing his girl, which resulted in round two of break-each-other's-faces. The little ones that had been present still needed therapy after Nico's skeletons paid a little _visit. _It was very romantic, like the final battle in those love stories where the prince and the-

Sorry, getting of track.

As soon as Carter and I were finished, Walt immediately took a papyrus scroll from his pocket. It was rather ancient-looking, with the gilded borders, and the yellowing paper. He opened it, and handed to us, namely, me. The moment our fingers touched, Walt shied away. I could've sworn his cheeks had turned a light shade of pink. "Alyssa found this scroll on the front door just last morning. A letter came with it, saying to give it to you directly. After Alyssa showed us, the letter burst into flames. We uh, kinda did a little research first, you know, just to make sure that this isn't some kind of elaborate trap."

I stared at the scroll. It showed practically nothing. I peered closer, and narrowed my eyes. I even put the scroll directly in front of my face, just to see if there was any fine print or something. Nothing.

I handed it back to him. "That's it? An empty scroll? You disrupted our breakfast for an empty scroll, which is basically pretty much useless?"

Walt nodded to Cleo, who then pointed her wand at the scroll, and muttered, "_Wpeh._"

The hieroglyph for _open _burned in the middle of the scroll, and Walt handed it back to me. As soon as I touched it, the front layer began to fall like sand off of the papyrus, revealing another layer hidden beneath it.

"For some reasons unknown to us, it could only be revealed by a host of Isis." Walt explained.

Again, I looked at the paper, this time in fascination. There were six lines written on it:

_**Born of Egypt, Greece, and Rome,**_

_**The son of Kronos walks eternity alone.**_

_**Succeed his father, and take over time,**_

_**The greatest of the gods, an immortal divine.**_

_**Five that goes shall survive on this quest,**_

_**And death the only path taken by the rest.**_

I handed the scroll over to Carter, my hands still shaking. I didn't know what this meant, but I was pretty sure that whatever this was, it was even worse than Apophis himself. Beside me, Carter read the scroll. Once he was finished, he rolled it up, put it on the table, and said, "_A'max._"

Walt, Cleo, Jaz, and Alyssa watched the scroll burn in horror. And then they started protesting, and by _they_, I mean Walt, mostly.

"What was that for, Carter!" Jaz demanded.

"It was some kind of clue, why did you burn it?" Cleo pointed her wand at the scroll, and just shouted "Water!" A jet of water doused the flames, but the damage was done. All that was left of the scroll was a pile of ashes.

"Excuse us." Carter said apprehensively, and pulled me away from the four, who were contemplating on what to do next.

"Let go of me!" I demanded, pulling away from his grasp.

"Not until we're out of hearing range." Carter said.

I rolled my eyes. "Fine. If we absolutely have to, then go to my room."

Carter was taken aback by what I just said. "But you never let me go to your room."

I rolled my eyes, and sighed. "And for obvious reasons." I grabbed his hand, and dragged him all the way to my room. I closed the doors, and the spells that I put started to work.

I sat on my bed. Carter took a seat on one of the sofas that I had in there. I was staring at him questioningly, my mind still buzzing with a million questions. Why did he burn the scroll? And more importantly, what was so important about it that he had to take me away from breakfast and talk to me in private?

"Look Carter. If it's about the cockroach I put in your salad last week, I can explain-"

"It's not about that." Carter interrupted. "Wait, that was you?" he glared daggers at me. I have to admit, his death glares were beginning to look a lot scarier, thanks to Thalia. I was a bit unnerved by the way he stared at me. Since he was Horus' host, Carter still had the tendency to blow things out of proportion, like slice a little sister in half for a little prank. I gulped.

Carter sighed, like he had already suspected it was me. "Never mind that. Did you memorize what was written on that scroll?"

"How could I forget?" It was like the words were seared permanently on my mind. _**And death the only path taken by the rest, and death the only path taken by the rest, and death the only path taken by the rest…**_those words plagued my head like locusts**. **We had just survived a two wars, one an inter-pantheon accident with the Greeks and one with Apophis, and I was not anxious to live through another one so soon. We had experienced many deaths, and their screams and pleas for mercy still haunted me in my dreams.

"_The son of Kronos walks eternity alone." _Carter quoted from the scroll. "This is bad. Really, really bad." He began pacing all around my room, which kind of annoyed me a bit.

I stared at him, dumbfounded. There was Carter again, telling me things which I have absolutely no clue as to what he was talking about in the first place. I rolled my eyes in annoyance. "Wait, back up. How is it bad?"

"Sadie, remember those stories that Nico told us, you know, about the war of Manhattan?" carter asked. He looked into my eyes seriously, and I knew that whatever this was, calling it _bad _would be an understatement.

I nodded. "Um, he said that Zeus', Poseidon's and Hades' father rose after being chopped up to pieces, and…" – I scratched my head, trying to remember the details – "Percy somehow, killed him, I guess. What did that have to do with the bloody scroll?"

Carter took a deep breath. "Sadie, that was Kronos, the Greek's lord of Time. He used to rule the entire world, where the mortals lived in agony, but then Zeus dethroned him, and chopped him up into little pieces and cast him down to Tartarus, never to be seen or heard from again." He explained. Leave it to Carter to know all the boring mythology facts. "That was, until Kronos made a return. He invaded Manhattan, and a prophecy was fulfilled that Percy would kill him in the end."

"So that scroll was-"

"A prophecy of the future, yes." Carter agreed. "And if I guessed correctly, the fact that it mentioned Kronos means that we'll have to work with the Greeks again."

Realization came to me. "So that's why you burned it."

Carter nodded. "I couldn't have them reading the prophecy until we know what to do."

See, we never told our trainees of the Greeks or the demigods. We even convinced that ones that had met Nico, especially Walt, that he was just a very talented necromancer. Amos had suggested it, so that the confusion among the mythologies could be avoided.

"So," I said, throwing up my hands in the air. "What do we do now?"

"We tell them the truth." Carter said gravely.

Walt, Jaz, and Alyssa were waiting for us downstairs. Cleo had gone off somewhere, probably with Khufu. Alyssa was glaring at Carter, while Jaz tried to calm her down. The key word is _tried. _Small cracks appeared under Alyssa's feet. (She was studying the path of Geb, so that makes sense.) Obviously, she was still miffed about Carter burning down the scroll she found. Her dark brown eyes followed us as we descended down the staircase.

"Guys, before you complain, ask more questions, or maim us, we have to tell you something." Carter said as soon as we reached the floor. He ushered them to the great room, where we spent two hours trying to tell them of the Greeks. It was really taxing work, mostly because they don't want to accept it.

"Impossible!" Alyssa snapped. "If what you're saying is true, then how is there only one sun? Why don't we see Ra's sun boat and Apollo's chariot up in the sky at the same time, then?"

"Ask him that when you meet him. "I groaned. They were _not _making this easy. "What you need to understand is, the Greeks are real, and they live just over there." I pointed towards the Empire State Building.

"Where, in the Empire State Building? Do they have a penthouse there, or something." Walt asked sarcastically. He was looking at Carter and I like we just came out of an Asylum.

"No. They live on Olympus, obviously." Nico said, coming out of the shadows.

"Oh, just great." Walt rolled his eyes. "The all-powerful necromancer comes."

Nico snorted. "What, what's funny?" Walt demanded.

Carter nodded to me. "Nico here," – I grabbed him by the arm and pulled him in front of the three – "Is not a necromancer; He's the son of Hades, the god of the dead."

Jaz and Alyssa stared at him in awe, like they believed every word. Well, maybe the death energy he radiated could have something to do with it.

"So that explains some of the things he can do," Alyssa said. "Like come out of the shadows."

"Or summon unmummifed corpses to fight for him." Jaz added. She shuddered at the memory.

"Mummies?" Nico scoffed. "Who'd want to summon mummies when you can summon Spartans to fight for you?" he snapped his fingers, and three Spartan Warriors like from that movie _300 _sprouted out of the ground. One of them came forward, and knelt in front of him. "It is an honor to serve the son of Hades. What is your command, my lord?"

Walt stared at the Spartans in disbelief. "Did he – did that, _thing, _just talk!" he pointed at the skeleton hysterically.

"Hey! Show some respect. King Leonidas is the general of my father's army, you know." The skeleton that talked nodded.

"Okay…" Walt said, still staring wide-eyed at the skeletons.

"You may go now." Nico ordered.

The skeletons nodded, and sank to the ground.

"Wow. This is a lot to process." Alyssa said.

Nico turned to us. "Carter, Sadie. Chiron wanted to see you."

"Why?" we asked him at the same time.

He started fidgeting with his skull ring. "Well, you see, Rachel kinda gave another prophecy. Something about-"

"The son of Kronos?" Carter asked.

"Yes. How did you know?" Nico asked.

Carter told him all about the scroll, and the prophecy written inside.

Nico paled, and for a son of Hades, it made him look dead. The only sign that he was still alive was his chest rising and falling. "Oh no. This is bad. Really, really bad."

I rolled my eyes. Oh great, Nico's starting to think like my brother.

**So, how was it? **_**Read and review**_**, people! Oh, and tell me if I got Sadie in character. Also, tell me what you think of my prophecy!**

**And lastly, here are some things I'd like to add to the story:**

**1. Sadie/Nico/Walt love triangle (hinted here already.)**

**2. Anubis/Percy/Annabeth love triangle (not sure about this one yet.)**

**Well, just ideas. Tell me what you think! Oh, and also, I'm almost off to College, so I may not update daily like I used to. Studies first, I always say, so wish me luck guys!**


	2. A Horse Volunteers Us

**Just a short chapter 2. Well, enjoy!**

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Maybe taking Jaz, Walt, and Alyssa to Camp Half-Blood wasn't the best idea.

As soon as they crossed the borders, Alyssa nearly made the earth swallow the guard dragon, Peleus. If that wasn't enough, Jaz shouted "_Heh-sieh!_" straight to Chiron, who came over to meet us. Needless to say, he was restrained to his wheelchair until further notice. Only Walt behaved himself, which actually surprised me a lot. But somehow, I got the feeling that he was only trying to impress me.

[Shut up Carter. I wasn't asking for your opinion.]

The war council was not what I had expected. I had always imagined meetings like this to be grim, formal, and serious. I had certainly not expected to see the Stoll brothers lighting up a Ping-Pong ball on fire with a lighter and chucking it at a girl with long brown hair, who was cursing them in annoyance. Another guy with a rainbow tattoo (I almost snickered) was busy spraying cheez whiz inside a sleeping kid's open mouth. Percy and Annabeth were making out in the corner (blech), Clarisse was polishing her spear, and Will Solace was fiddling with his bow. Nico cleared his throat loudly, catching all of their attention. Chiron, on the other hand (still in his wheelchair, since three of his legs were currently broken), was glaring at them, reprimanding them for acting like children. Truth be told, we didn't act better ourselves, so I was a bit hurt by his words.

We all sat around the Ping-Pong table, which was a bit crowded considering that more than thirty kids were present. Chiron sighed. "We really need to get a new table. Percy, remind me. Scratch that, Annabeth, you remind me instead." The kids laughed, while Percy pouted. Nico, who was beside me, was trying his best not to laugh at Percy's face.

"Now, time more pressing matters. You all know of Rachel's prophecy. Am I correct?" he glanced at the entire assembly. Most of them shrugged while a few nodded. Chiron nodded to Annabeth. "Annabeth, tell us please." Annabeth took a deep breath, and recited the prophecy, the very same one that I read on the scroll.

_**Born of Egypt, Greece, and Rome,**_

_**The son of Kronos walks eternity alone.**_

_**Succeed his father, and take over time,**_

_**The greatest of the gods, an immortal divine.**_

_**Five that goes shall survive on this quest,**_

_**And death the only path taken by the rest.**_

"As you all know, Kronos himself is dead, thanks to Percy here." Percy sank a little lower in his seat. "And of course, you all know Carter Kane, the leader-"

"Pharaoh." Walt corrected.

"Sorry?" Chiron asked, interested.

I told him all about our war with Apophis. Afterwards, he seemed to have given a whole new kind of respect to Carter. "I understand. Forgive me, my lord." He bowed to Carter.

Like Percy, Carter sank lower in his seat, flustered from all the attention. "Uh, just Carter is fine. I really hate formalities. And uh, you don't need to bow."

"As you wish my lor- I mean, Carter." Chiron said. "Now then, back to the topic. Yes, Carter and Sadie Kane here had been two of our greatest warriors during the second battle of Manhattan. They had helped retrieve Annabeth Chase, and had helped the gods in sealing Apophis." The demigods grimaced at the memory of the war. I couldn't help but choke up, either. So many people dead…

I blinked the tears away. Now is not a good time for anyone, especially my brother, to see me crying. In fact, he had never seen me cry before, and I'd hate to break my streak.

"It seems that the prophecy calls for another union." Chiron continued. "The first line alone brings up the topic of Egypt, which was supposed to be impossible for the Oracle to see."

"Why?" Percy asked. The others echoed in agreement, even Alyssa and Jaz. Walt however, remained silent.

"Because, Greek and Egyptian magic exists on two totally different planes of reality. If the Oracle were ever to use Egyptian magic, she would spontaneously blow up." Annabeth explained. We just stared at her, not understanding a word she said. Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Just think of it as AC and DC types of electricity. If you use the wrong type on the right appliance, it wouldn't work, or worse, blow up."

Beside me, Nico murmured, "Why didn't you just say that in the first place?"

Chiron cleared his throat. "Yes, just what Annabeth said. But that's not what I'm worried about. The prophecy also mentioned a son of Kronos."

"Couldn't it just be Zeus, Poseidon, or Hades?" the guy with the rainbow tattoo asked.

"I've thought of that at first, Butch, but the prophecy also said that he would take over his father, and control time." Chiron answered. "Zeus and his brothers cannot anymore inherit their father's powers, for they themselves had already chosen their domains."

"Oh." Butch said. Percy perked up, like he just realized something. "Wait, Chiron, you couldn't me saying that-"

Chiron nodded gravely. "Yes, Percy. The only other option I could think of was that the prophecy speaks of a demigod son of Kronos."

The rest of the demigods started arguing. Soon, it became an entire shouting match. Chiron slammed his hand on the table. "Enough! We will get nothing by sitting here and arguing. It is only my opinion, and I am not saying that Kronos has a son out there."

"But Chiron, how in Hades could Kronos even sire a child? That's impossible!" Annabeth protested.

"Impossible?" Clarisse scoffed. "Then why is kelp head and death boy here then? Did you ever think of that? Or you, for that matter, isn't you mom supposed to be a _maiden _goddess? If things that were supposed to be impossible had remained impossible, then why are you three here?"

In all my time at camp, I had never pegged Clarisse as a genius smart-aleck. Apparently, the others didn't too, since they were all staring at her like she just said, _I dance around and wear pretty dresses!_ Annabeth however, was glaring daggers at Clarisse, who was doing a pretty good job of ignoring her. Annabeth's nails had dug into the wood, and I was sure that Clarisse had hit a soft spot.

"Annabeth, calm down. Percy, take her outside." Chiron ordered.

"No." Annabeth argued. "I want to finish this." She was still eyeing Clarisse like she wanted to kill her, but only now it was more discreet.

"Clarisse has a point." Walt said. "Even our gods, Nut and Geb, had been able to sire their children, even after Ra had decreed that they were not allowed to give birth at any day of the year."

"What?" Nico asked, dumbfounded.

"Long story." I answered. "I'll tell you later."

"Exactly." Chiron nodded. "There were many occurrences where…_unnatural_ things just happen. The most reasonable way that I could think of was that his child was formed with magic, like Athena's were." I noticed that Chiron was trying not to use the word "impossible" again. "I don't pretend that I know what exactly is going on, but we need to find who this son of Kronos is and bring him to camp immediately, before any harm comes to him."

"What kind of harm, exactly?" I asked.

Chiron took a deep breath. "Hyperion has escaped his prison." He stated gravely.

"And so has Atlas." A voice said behind us. We turned around, only to see a punk-looking girl wearing a princess' tiara leaning against the doorframe. Annabeth ran over, and hugged her. "Thalia!"

Percy and Nico high-fived the girl. "How's it going, Thals?"

"Yeah, what's up?"

Their moment of happiness did not last long. The girl, Thalia, told us of how the titan Atlas has escaped his prison, and how Perses had replaced him. Thalia's voice became venomous every time she mentioned the name Atlas, and frankly, I had no idea what she was talking about.

Chiron sighed. "We need to find that son of Kronos now."

"That's what I came here for. Lady Artemis believed that the son of Kronos is close by." Thalia said.

"That's good news, at least." Percy said.

"Where?" Carter asked.

"Goode High School."

Percy's mouth hung open. He was staring at Thalia in disbelief. "You have got to be kidding me."

"I wish I was, too." Thalia said. "But I saw Hyperion himself go into that school, so our best chances of finding him lie in there."

"There's just no way that he can be in there. I went there for a year, and I had never noticed anything out of the ordinary." Percy said.

"You mean, apart from you?" Nico snickered. I rolled my eyes. He can be such a kid sometimes, but it's actually kind of cute.

Percy rolled his eyes. "Whatever." He groaned.

"That may be because he has never known what he was." Chiron explained.

"So then, it said in the prophecy that five will go." Carter said.

"No it doesn't." Clarisse said. 'It said that five will survive, but the rest will die."

I rolled my eyes. "Thank you, miss pessimistic."

"So only five should go, so that no one else dies." Chiron decided. "Who volunteers?"

Nobody raised their hands.

Chiron groaned. "You are not making this easy. If none of you volunteers, then I'll just have to pick. Percy-"

"Hey! Why me?" Percy protested.

"-and Annabeth-"

"Good luck guys!" I said sarcastically.

"-and of course, Sadie and Carter-"

"WHAT!" I practically screamed.

"-and finally, Nico."

"Why me?" he whined. But we knew better that to argue with Chiron. That guy has a very strong mindset.

"That is final! Tomorrow, the five of you will go to school. No question asked. Are we clear?" he glanced at the five of us.

"Yes, Chiron." We all grumbled.

Once the meeting was over, Carter, Alyssa, Walt, Jaz, and I went to Nico's cabin. Why Nico's cabin, you ask? Well, a.) Percy's cabin smells like seaweed, and b.) We're all pretty sure that it was occupied by Percy and Annabeth, and we do not want to be mentally scarred for the rest of our lives.

I sat in Nico's bed, and he sat down beside me, wrapping an arm around my waist. Somehow, the gloom-and-doom theme of Nico's cabin was very relaxing. I looked up to him, and leaned over. He started to lean in-

"Guys!" carter exclaimed. "no public display of affection!"

"We're in Nico's room, idiot. If you don't want to watch, just go out." I murmured.

"Well, we'll just go back to Brooklyn." Jaz said, and made a beeline for the door.

"We're coming with you." The rest of them followed suit. Before he went out, Carter said, "We'll pick you up here tomorrow, Sadie. I'll send your things via the duat. And guys? Don't do _anything_ you'll regret, you understand?"

Nico and I blushed. "Carter!"

"I'm just saying." He closed the door. Walt looked at Nico disdainfully, and walked out of the cabin, leaving me alone with Nico.

Long story short, Best. Night. Ever.

**Well, that's it! And I promise you, my OC will not be a Gary Stu. And if it is, I give you the permission to hunt me down and kill me.**

**Well, until next chapter then!**


	3. We Find Our Candidates

**Chapter three here, people! And only four reviews? *sobs***

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I hope that Sadie didn't bore you with her useless storytelling.

[Stop hitting me, Sadie!]

The next day, I woke up early, excited to go to school. Because I had been travelling with dad all over the world for the majority of my life, I never got the chance to go to an actual school. Even when Apophis was wreaking havoc all over the country, it was _Sadie _and the others who had to attend classes, while I on the other hand had to busy myself with planning our next move and whatnot. Seriously, I felt happier than an excited puppy.

After brushing my teeth, taking a shower, and throwing on a white shirt with tribal designs on the front, black leather jacket, some dark jeans, and my Reebooks, I went to the Sphinx statue on our roof and opened a portal. To my surprise, Walt was there, leaning casually on the Sphinx, his hands in his pockets.

"It's a bit early to go to school, don't you think?" he said.

"I'm just going to go pick up Sadie and the others." I clarified. Freak, my pet griffin squawked in agreement.

Walt just shrugged. "Alright man. Good luck. From what happened yesterday, you'll need it. Oh, and I almost forgot." He tossed me a cell. I caught it with difficulty, but managed not to let it fall. Not one of those cheap cellphones that you can throw away at any time, but a sleek black Sony Ericsson WT19i. **(A/N: I really have that phone. Check it out on google!) **I stared at it like it was gold. For Walt to just give me this without any reason…well it just wasn't his style. "I've got another one for Sadie too." He handed me another, only in white this time.

I looked at the phones, than stared at him quizzically. "We can't take this. I mean, they're yours." I handed the phones back to him, but he just pushed them back to me. "They're my mom's actually. She gave me those to give to both of you, you know, in case we got into any trouble." Walt explained to me. "I kinda let it…slip that you guys can't have phones, so my mom got a friend of hers, a magician, to enchant those phones so that demons and monsters can't track the signal." I nodded to him in thanks. Behind us, the portal spiraled into existence, the tunnel of swirling sand emitting the sound of a tornado. Walt patted me on the back. I jumped into the portal, but then I heard Walt's voice. "Oh, and Carter, please tell Sadie I've…" his voice was drowned out by the portal.

I really have to work on my portals, because the exit wasn't in front of Nico's door like I had expected, but parallel to the floor. As I neared the exit, I made out the wooden planks that were inside Nico's room, and braced for impact.

"Ow!" I groaned as I hit the floor, face first. The loud _thump! _was probably heard by everyone in a five mile radius. Seriously, I'm starting to consider just using a cab next time.

"Carter! What are you doing here!" Sadie screamed hysterically. My vision was still blurry, but I managed to make out my sister from the swirling visions, clutching a shirt in front of her body and glaring daggers at me, her face pure red. Oh, and I also noticed the fact that she was half-naked.

"Get out you pervert!" she dragged me by my shirt to the door, threw me out, and slammed the door in my face. Nico, who was sitting by the porch outside, was laughing his head off. He was clutching his sides, and rolling on the floor. "Man, that was hilarious!" he wiped a tear in his eye.

"How was I supposed to know she was changing?" I argued. My face still felt hot about what I just saw. My mind couldn't stop thinking about how defined Sadie had become, how her curves had complemented her body, how her hips swayed as she dragged me out the doors-

[Wait Sadie, I can explain – wait, was that an exploding donkey? Oh great. Now Sadie's trying to throw stuff at me- hey, watch it! That was my laptop! Ow! Sadie, stop it! Ow! Sadie, put down my sword. Wait, wait!]

[… (bang!) (crash) (ow!) (yee-haw!)]

[Sorry about that. But my sword nearly impaled me. But at least Sadie's not angry anymore…oh wait, she's still glaring at me.]

_Stop thinking about that, damn it! _I scolded my mind. _She's your sister!_

I must've spazzed out, because the next thing I knew, Nico was in front of me, waving a hand in front of my face. "Hello? Carter? Hey man, you alright?" I shook my head, effectively clearing my thoughts. "Wha-what?"

"Dude, what exactly did you see in there?" My face felt even hotter.

"Never mind, I think I've already gotten the idea."

"So Nico, what did you two do last night?" I asked him, eager to change the subject.

His eyes darted all around, refusing to look at me. "Uh, nothing. Why?" His face was beginning to turn seven shades of red.

I stared at him, my eyes wide with disbelief. "You didn't. Did you?"

"Well uh…" He was saved from further questioning by Sadie, who came out dressed in a purple dress with fringes at the edges, worn-out jeans, and her combat boots. Her hair had purple streaks in it. She glared at me as she passed by, and I swear I heard her mutter, "lousy perverted brother." She grabbed Nico by his hands, and walked to the camp's entrance.

Argus drove us to Goode. Percy was bouncing his knee in nervousness, Annabeth was buried in her laptop, Sadie and Nico were busy sightseeing, their hands intertwined. Sometimes they would look at each other, and both of them would lean towards each other. I, on the other hand, got the hardest job of all. (as usual.) Whenever they would try to kiss, I would cover their mouths with my hands, and shove them apart, reminding them of the "no public display of affection" rule. Nico kept giving me the evil eye, while Sadie would constantly mutter strings of swear and curse words, both in English and ancient Egyptian. By the time we reached Goode, Sadie had probably said every swear and curse word in history, while Nico's hand was dangerously close to taking off his skull ring, which I learned turned into a sword.

Ignoring their death glares, which in itself is really a feat, I read the banner at the front gates. _"Goode is good. Let's have a Goode year!"_ the banner read. We entered the slab doors.

"Do we really have to?" Nico asked. "I mean, we could just ask around, "Hey do you guys know any sons of Kronos in here?" It could work."

The four of us laughed at Nico's joke. "Hey, why are you laughing? I was serious." Nico pouted.

"Sure you were." Annabeth said. She slapped him upside the head. "Idiot." She grumbled.

"Hey!" Nico rubbed the back of his head. "That hurts, you know. Both physically and emotionally." He clutched a hand to his heart in a dramatic way. Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Oh shut up."

She left to get our schedules. While she was gone, the others got into a very deep conversation about whose dad was better. Personally, I think Osiris was the best, and not just because he's my dad. Annabeth got back to us, and handed us our schedules. I read mine. Each class took about an hour, and we had a ten-minute break after each class, so I was a bit relieved.

**(A/N: I'm not American, so I don't know any the exact schedule. This is just my best guess.)**

_8:00 to 9:00 – Homeroom._

_9:10 to 10:10 – Language_

_10:20 to 11:20 – History_

_11:40 to 12:40 – Gym_

_12:40 to 1:30 – lunch_

_1:30 to 2:30 – Math_

_2:40 to 3:40 – Study Hall_

As I walked towards my first class, which was Language, since I was pretty sure the five of us already missed homeroom. Then, I heard a grunt of pain coming from one of the hallways, followed by what sounded like kicks and punches. Naturally, I came to investigate. Two guys were beating up a kid. The kid wasn't more than thirteen, but he was bruised and battered in places. One of the guys, a pretty well-built guy with blonde hair, kicked the kid in the gut, and the kid whimpered in pain. The other guy, someone with black hair, delivered a nasty blow to the kid's head.

"Hey, beat on someone your own size!" I blurted out before I could shut my mouth. The good news? They stopped beating the kid. The bad news? Now they were coming for me.

I tried to remain impassive, but seriously, my feet was struggling just to stay where I was standing. Those two guys were _huge. _I back up, right towards the lockers.

"Great idea kid." The blonde guy sneered. He looked at me with his eyes, and I was disoriented by his gaze. His eyes were gold, like the color of molten lava. "We'll beat you up, the continue beating _him _up." The other guy agreed. "Prepare to be beaten black and blue, kid." They cracked their knuckles like a two-part harmony. I gulped. One guy I can take down easily, but two? Now I'm starting to regret helping that kid.

Thank the gods Percy and Nico decided to pass by. The two of them stood right beside of me, eyeing the two dudes down, while Annabeth and Sadie slipped behind the two guys, and helped the kid to his feet.

Percy narrowed his eyes at the blonde dude. "Hey, do I know you from somewhere?" The blonde guy took in a sharp breath. "No you don't. Now you two want to get beat up too?"

"No, I'm pretty sure I saw you before." He looked at the two guys. "Both of you."

"You better stop making false accusation kid, before I break that pretty little face of yours." He slammed Percy into a locker behind him. Thanks to his invincibility, Percy just laughed. "Was that supposed to hurt?"

"Are you asking for a beating?" The guy growled.

"Bring it on." Nico taunted. "Just don't go home crying to mommy."

The blonde guy bellowed in rage, and launched a fist at Nico. He ducked, and the guy's fist collided with one of the lockers, making a crater right where Nico's head was a few moments ago. Nico landed a solid punch to the guy's gut, but he didn't even flinch. He grabbed Nico by the back of his shirt with his other hand, and rammed him straight to the lockers. Nico hit the lockers on his side, and he fell to the floor. The other guys balled his fists, and was about to use Nico's face as a punching bag, but I kicked him in the jaw, just as his fist was about to collide with Nico's cheek. The black-haired guy staggered backwards, his hand clutching his dislocated jaw. I helped Nico up.

"Thanks man." Nico said.

"No problem - move!" I rolled out of the way, but Nico wasn't as fast. He still was probably disoriented from being thrown into the lockers. The black-haired guy's fist hit Nico in the nose, and a sickening _crunch! _was heard as the cartilage broke. Nico fell to the floor, his nose starting to leak blood. Percy was taking on the other guy, who was having a hard time just to make Percy flinch. He ducked as the guy took a wild swing, and landed a few blows to his stomach. Meanwhile, with Nico down, I took on the black-haired dude.

I ducked a swing, and saw Annabeth and Sadie with the kid between them, his hands flung over their shoulders. I took a wild swing, and hit the guy in the eye pretty badly. He groaned in pain.

"Brandt! Hunt! What are you two doing?" a woman's voice ran from across the hallway.

We stopped the fight momentarily to look at the woman. She was wearing a pencil skirt, and a formal attire. Her face was focused mostly on the two dudes, both of whom were glaring at us with hatred.

"You two. Detention. Now get to your classes!" she ordered, and the two dudes left. I swear I heard them cursing in ancient Greek as they passed me by.

The woman shook her head at the sight of us. "You four must be the new students then." We nodded our heads, all except for Nico, who was clutching his nose. "She pointed to Percy. "Jackson, bring him to the nurse's office, before I find out that you had something to with this." Percy gulped, nodded, and helped Nico up. Blood was starting to fall on his shirt. "I'll kill them." He muttered. "I'm going to send their souls to Hades."

The woman glowered at me. "What, exactly, happened here? From what your transcripts said, you have never gotten in a fight in your life." I explained to her about the two dudes beating the kid up, and her glare lowered, just a fraction.

"Very well then. Since this is your first offense, I'll let all of you go with a warning. But the next time it happens, pray that I don't find out. Goode has enough trouble with Mr. Jackson, and I don't want the four of you following his example. Understood?" We nodded. What did Percy do to this school, exactly?

"Good. Now, off to your classes." She walked down the hall, leaving me with the girls and the kid.

I walked over to them. "Hey, you alright?" I asked the kid. He was in better shape than I thought. He had a nice build, tan skin, about 5'2'', with black hair with a few brown stands in the front. But what was really mesmerizing were his eyes. They were like molten gold, and looked at me as if he was analyzing how to best take me down in a fight.

He nodded his head slowly, like moving his body hurt. He pulled his hands away from Annabeth and Sadie. "They do that often, so I've kinda gotten used to it already. In fact, that was the first time someone came to help me."

"Who were those two anyway?" Sadie asked.

"William Ethan Brandt and Jason Syrus Hunt. They're jerks who like to think they own the school, but actually they just arrived a few weeks ago." The kid growled. "I'm Ariston, by the way. Ariston Zane Monroe." The kid said in a flat tone, and started limping away. I got the feeling that he didn't want to be around us much.

**Well, that's it! Out of the three, who do you think they were looking for?**

**1. William Ethan Brandt**

** 2. Jason Syrus Hunt**

**3. Ariston Zane Monroe**

**Well, review, people!**


	4. I Learn Some Sad News

**An update! Yay! Please **_**review**_**!**

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[Stupid Carter and his bloody perverted thoughts. Oh stop, defending yourself Carter. We all heard what you said.]

Well, to say that class was boring would be an exact description of it. History flew by (not!) and Math was as easy as pie (again, not!) The only highlight of the day was my arts class, where we were asked to draw anything that we wanted. Since Nico and I were enrolled as eighth graders, nobody expected him to draw a very descriptive picture of the fields of punishment in the underworld, complete with tortured people, furies, and a scowling Hades sitting on a black throne. I, on the other hand, drew my dad, Osiris, in our home in Los Angeles, but it wasn't as good as Nico's. Who knew that he was such an artist?

"Oh my," The teacher, Miss Falon, commented. "Such…imagination you two have. Can you please explain to the class why you chose to draw these? Mr. di Angelo, you first."

I scowled at the word _explain._ I'm a very talkative person, but explaining things properly wasn't exactly one of my strong points. I'd rather talk about random things like weather, boyfriends, etc.

Nico shifted in his seat uncomfortably. "I uh…just thought of it randomly, actually." He explained poorly.

"And where did you get the idea, may I ask?" Miss Falon asked.

"Oh um…you see…it's actually from…"

I rolled my eyes. I made a mental note to teach Nico how to lie through his teeth later. "He got it from a book, Miss Falon." I said, saving Nico from complete embarrassment. He smiled at me gratefully, and mouthed, _nice save._

_Thanks,_ I mouthed back.

As the class ended, I noticed that kid earlier, Arestin or something, talking with a girl who looked like his splitting image outside the doors. She looked about thirteen, like me. The girl had caramel-colored hair like mine, but it went all the way down to her waist, with a few streaks of black complementing her hair. She wore a simple white tank top with the words, "I am the girl!" written on the front, and jean shorts that ended mid-thigh. Converse shoes were on her feet. She was obviously scolding him for something, and then pointed to his bruises. Arestin groaned, and flipped the girl off. I nudged Nico, and pointed at the two.

"Who's that other girl?" Nico asked me.

"No idea. And why are you asking?" Nico didn't answer. I gazed into his eyes, and saw that he was completely trained on the girl. The corner of his mouth was starting to drool. I was completely annoyed. Truthfully, I felt a bit jealous. But in an instant that jealousy became anger. I stomped Nico on the foot.

"Ow! What was that for!" Nico grumbled, holding his foot with one hand while jumping around on the other.

"Bloody male hormones and their green minds." I mumbled, and stepped out the doors. I tried to look for the boy and the girl he was talking to, but they both already disappeared.

Both of us headed for the cafeteria, where Percy, Annabeth, and Carter were already seated, and were waving for us to go to their table. We ordered out lunch, which was basically a gray slop that I doubt was edible, and juice.

"So, how was school?" carter asked, trying to start a conversation.

"Meh." I said.

"Fine, except for Sadie stomping my foot." Nico grumbled. He slurped his juice box. I noticed that nobody was touching their slop. I grabbed a spork, and was about to take a small bite when Percy stopped me. "You wouldn't want to do that. The last kid who tried…well, he's still in the hospital." I immediately dropped the spork, and took a drink from my juice box instead. Percy sighed in relief.

"So, did you find any leads?" I asked them. Percy and Carter shook their heads, but Annabeth nodded slowly.

"There was the guy you guys fought in my class, William Brandt. He looked pretty well-built, and had that cockiness that rivaled Percy's. He could be what we were looking for. I mean, did you see his eyes? They were gold." Annabeth said. "He actually even tried to hit on me during history."

Percy slammed his hand on the table. "He WHAT?"

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "The key word is _tried,_ seaweed brain. Now sit down. People are staring." I took a quick glance around the room, and sure enough, most of the other students were all staring at our table, particularly at Percy. But there was one guy though that caught my attention.

"Hey guys, I'll be right back." I said, ignoring the strange looks from Nico.

Arestin's table was empty. He was staring at his slop, like he was seriously considering eating it. "Hey." I said coolly, taking a seat across from him. He glanced at me for a second, before staring again at his slop. "Hi." He muttered.

"So, Arestin, right?" he looked at me again, and I saw the impassive expression on his face. His gold eyes felt like they were boring into my very soul.

"Ariston." He corrected. I saw the corner of his lip tug into a smile for a second, but after that it was gone again.

"I'm Sadie." I held out my hand, but he just stared at it before saying, "Why are you here?"

"Well that's a bit rude." I quipped. "I'm just trying to make conversation."

"Well, since you're new here, let me explain things to you. People here," – he glanced at the students – "generally try to avoid me." He warned, but I didn't listen. "If you want to last another day without getting mocked yourself, you should probably go back to your friends." He pointed towards Percy and the others, who were eyeing Ariston carefully.

I felt eyes staring at me like I'm some kind of meat. I turned around, and saw the majority of the students scowling and pointing at us. Others were whispering to their friends, and I had the feeling that I've just started a new gossip. The two guys from earlier, William Brandt and Jason Hunt, smirking in our direction. I turned my eyes back to the boy. "Well, I don't care what other bloody people think. I'm perfectly capable of deciding for my own, yes?" I took out a stick of gum from my pocket. "Gum?" I offered.

Ariston shook his head. "No, sorry." He said in a flat tone.

I shrugged. "Suit yourself." I popped the piece of gum into my mouth. "So, what's the deal with these people? I mean, you look like a really nice person and all, but why are they all avoiding you?"

"Nice?" he scoffed. "No one's said that to me in a long time. Look, you better get to you friends, before things get ugly." He was eyeing William and Jason carefully.

All of a sudden, the girl from earlier slid right next to him. She beamed at me. "So, finally made a friend eh?" she quipped.

Ariston scowled at her. "We're _not_ friends. Now leave me alone." he glanced at me, putting emphasis on the "not".

"Sorry?" I stared at him in disbelief.

"Oh, excuse my brother. He's impossible. I'm Alexis Diana Monroe by the way, Ariston's little sister. But just call me Diana." She held out her hand, and I shook it with a smile. "Sadie Kane. Nice to meet you."

"I see you've already met Ariston." He gestured to her brother. Ariston scowled some more, before standing up and leaving the cafeteria.

Diana sighed, and shook her head. "Sometimes, I get the urge to beat him up, just to get him to open up." She smiled at me. "Sorry for the way he acted."

"What's up with him, anyway? First we see him get beat up, and nobody even comes to help bar me and my friends, and next, I come over here, and everybody starts staring at us like we were a plague." I shifted in my seat, ignoring the looks people were giving.

Diana leaned towards me. "Most of the people here classify him as unfriendly, cold, heartless, and useless. I mean, I'm practically the only person here he talks to, apart from you, and that's because I'm his sister."

I bit my lip. "Seems to me like he has a very small amount of self-confidence, just like my brother before."

"You have a brother?" She asked me intriguingly.

"Yes, but we don't look anything alike." I said.

"Really? How?"

"Well, it's better really if I just show you." I pulled her towards Percy's table.

"Hey, Perce." Diana high-fived Percy. "Diana, how's it going?"

"You two know each other?"

"We're practically best friends." Diana said. Annabeth glares at Percy accusingly.

"She's on my swim team, and one of the few friends I have here." Percy clarifies. Annabeth's glare lowered for a fraction of their intensity. "Guys, this is Alexis Diana Monroe. Diana, these are my friends."

"I'm Nico di Angelo."

"I'm Annabeth Chase."

Diana raised her eyebrow. "So you're Percy's girlfriend. Percy's told me lots about you."

"Good things, I hope." Annabeth smiled.

Diana laughed. "Actually, you're quite far from the know-it-all smart-aleck he portrays you as."

Under the table, I heard something stomp down, hard, and Percy screamed, "Ow!" he glared at Diana. "Thanks a lot."

"I try to help." Diana quipped.

"I'm Carter Kane." Carter held out his hand.

"So you're Sadie's brother." she shook carter's hand, smiling.

"You don't seem to be shocked." Carter noticed. "Well, that's a first."

"Actually, I try not to judge, so that I may not be judged." She said.

"I think I heard that from somewhere." Percy said.

"Yeah, actually, our mom told it before…" she stopped abruptly.

"Before what?" Percy blurted out, before Annabeth slapped his mouth close with her hand. I smacked my face with my palm. I know that Percy had ADHD, and tended to blurt things out, but that was just plain tactless.

"It's okay," I said. "You don't have to-"

"No, no, it's fine. The doctor said that talking about it would make it easier to bear anyway." She gave me a small smile. Diana took a deep breath, and finished what she said earlier. "Before our mom was murdered."

A chorus of gasps was heard from our group. I had a feeling that one of those was mine.

Diana looked at me. "Sadie, you wanted to know why my brother was like that, yes?"

I slowly nodded my head. I was still a bit shocked that something like that happened in their lives. Diana struck me as a very friendly and carefree person. It was rather impossible to deduce that they were motherless.

"Well, our mother's murder was actually the reason." She began. "It was two years ago, and I had just turned eleven that day. My friends and I were celebrating on one of our friend's houses, and Ariston was home with mom. We were never rich, in fact, our father abandoned us when we were young. We lived in small, rundown apartment, just over the edge of the city. Mom had promised to buy me some new clothes once I got home, so you could guess that I was very excited. My few friends who actually knew of our condition had accompanied me to our house. We were anxious to see my mom, who always made a fresh batch of cookies just for us, but what greeted us instead made them run away, screaming in terror, and leaving me alone. My mom and Ariston were on the floor. My mom had a pool of blood under her body and three stab wounds on her heart, and Ariston was also on the floor. At first, I thought that he was also dead, but then his chest was rising and falling. In his hand was a bloody knife."

We listened intently, our eyes widening every second. "Of course, you can guess what I did next. In my panic, I immediately called the police. Once they got there, I was crying my eyes out. The scene…it was just too much for me to take." Her hands were shaking, but she continued. "I didn't realize that from the way things looked, it seemed like my brother had murdered our mother. I was really surprised when he came out of the house, his hand cuffed behind his back, and his eyes looking at me in confusion. Of course, the next day, the whole school practically knew, and most of the people just gave me sympathetic looks. Even after Ariston was cleared of charges, and the real killer was caught, people still looked at him like he was a murderer. They stayed away from him whenever possible; even his so-called "friends" had abandoned him, all except for me."

"So that's why he always seemed so distant." I said.

Diana nodded her head. "He took it hard; he still blames himself for not protecting his mother."

"It's not even his bloody, fault, is it? I mean, he was eleven, for god's sake!" They all nodded in agreement.

"I tried to convince him of that, but he's just too stubborn. He never listens to me." Diana murmured.

All around us was a calm, serene silence. I gazed around. The whole cafeteria was empty, bar for us. We must've been so engrossed in Diana's, we didn't hear the bell ring.

"Guys, I think lunch is over." I pointed out. Then they noticed the empty tables.

Diana stood up. "Yeah, I don't want you guys to get in trouble on your first day because of me."

Percy smirked. "Trust me, we already have, but not because of you."

I put a hand on her shoulder. "I'll do my best to help your brother." I gave her a reassuring smile.

She smiled back. "Thanks." She walked out of the cafeteria.

We started to go to our classes, but Annabeth held us back. "Wait, there's something else you guys need to know."

We turned to face her. "Huh?" I asked.

"That guy, William Brandt, I just figured out why he creeps me out." She turned to Percy. "Percy, you recognized him to, didn't you?"

Percy shifted uncomfortably from the four pairs of eyes currently trained on him. "Well, I kinda did, but it was just probably because I saw him on the mall or something."

"Percy," Annabeth hissed. "Try again. He looks exactly like Hyperion."

**Well, there you go. Personally, I think I did fine with the names, but hey, I need you opinions too. **_**Read and Review**_**, people!**


	5. I Find out Their Plans

**Wow. So many reviews…thanks, you guys! Here's an update! Yay!**

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I had the worst dream ever that night.

We seriously needed to get my headrest fixed, because even though how hard I've tried to use it, my _ba_ always manages to escape.

[No, Sadie. I don't think duct-taping my head to the headrest would help. Now shut up!]

The currents of the duat whisked me away, and the next thing I knew, I was standing on top of a mountain. Two large dudes, one in fiery gold armor, and another in starry silver armor, were pacing the middle of the room, if you can call it that. I sensed power radiate from both of them, power even more ancient then the gods. Black marble columns rose up from the sides, but most were cut in half, or chipped away. A black throne, hastily rebuilt from the looks of it, was standing in a podium, facing me. The two figures were arguing, based from all the agitated hand gestures they kept using. I flew closer, thanking the gods that my _ba_ is invisible.

"Are you sure it's him?" the one in golden armor asked. He had his back turned from the dude in silver armor, so I couldn't see his face.

"I can sense the power of our brother in him, Hyperion. And since when was I ever wrong?" the dude in silver armor said.

"It may be another decoy." The guy in the golden armor, Hyperion, said. "Remember that kid in Alaska, Atlas? We almost blew our cover, thanks to that kid. No. This time, I am not lifting a finger to help unless you can assure me that he really is the one."

"Assure you?" Atlas scoffed. "I do not need to assure you, my brother. This one _is_ his son, Hyperion. I am sure of it!" he said forcefully. "We will have our chance in three days. You will see I am right then."

Hyperion turned around to face Atlas. "One last time, Atlas. One last time. But, if this fails, I am putting you back under the sky. Are we clear?"

"Crystal." Atlas said sarcastically. "But then, brother, why don't we just forge a new one? Our brother did it last time."

"Bah!" Hyperion waved his hand dismissively. "Kronos was a fool to have those sea demons forge him a new one. No. We need the original, imbued with the powers of Gaea, Ouranos, and Kronos. Only it has enough power to topple Zeus from his throne, and furthermore, only his son can give it to us."

"Just ask Zeus or the others then." Atlas suggested. Hyperion didn't answer. "You're right. Stupid idea."

"But what about the Egyptians?" Atlas asked. "I've heard the Olympians had agreed to an alliance with them. They might become a setback to our plans."

"Let those foolish parasite gods come. If they think they are high and mighty just because they managed to defeat that weakling Apophis, then let them come. We will teach them otherwise. You heard that, Pharaoh?" Hyperion trained his eyes on me. I started backing away, quickly.

"Pharaoh?" Atlas raised an eyebrow. He turned around, and now two pairs of eyes were staring at me. Atlas scowled, raised his foot, and placed it directly on top of me. I didn't have time to react. Atlas brought down his foot-

I woke up in cold sweat.

During homeroom, I noticed there were a lot more people than usual. William and Jason were in the back of the class, along with three other people that I didn't know. The two mentioned were staring at me intently with their eyes. I took a second to turn back and glance back at them, and saw that Annabeth was right. I saw Hyperion in my dream last night, and William disturbingly looks a lot like him. I didn't know whether to let them stare, or to just go at them and yell "Hey, I know you two are Hyperion and Atlas. Now let's fight!"

What really bothered me was the fact that those two were here. If my guess was right, then Kronos' son _had_ to be here. If he wasn't, they wouldn't waste any time in this place anyways. But what was in three days? If what I heard was correct, those two will make their move then, and we have to stop them, or else.

I was so engrossed in my thoughts, I didn't even notice Sadie come over after class and punch me in the arm playfully. "Hey. So who are you bringing?"

"Bringing to what?" I asked stupidly. I really didn't have a clue to what she's talking about, because usually, it's just nonsense, so I try not to listen.

[…]

[…]

[(SMACK!)]

[Ow! Sorry, Sadie just slapped me.]

Sadie rolled her eyes. "The prom, Carter. I think Nico's been planning on asking me out already. I overheard him and Percy talking lately."

"The prom…" I mused. Suddenly, I had an idea. "Sadie, when's the prom going to be?" I grabbed her arms with both hands.

"In three days, why? And get your hands off me." I put my hands away. Sadie's answer rang in my mind.

"That's it!" I exclaimed, much to Sadie's surprise.

"What's it?" Sadie was looking at me quizzically. "Carter, have you lost your marbles or something?"

I didn't answer that. So, they plan on doing whatever they planned during the prom. Now, I only had to figure out what their plan was, exactly.

"Thanks a lot sis! You're a great help." Out of instinct, I kissed Sadie on the cheek. I was too happy to care, or even get grossed out. Sadie, on the other hand, looked like she wanted to die.

"Ewww! Gross!" She wiped her cheek with her hand. "Carter, what in Horus' bloody name is wrong with you!" she exclaimed.

But I wasn't listening. I headed for my next class, ignoring Sadie's protests.

After Gym, I changed, and was about to head to the cafeteria for lunch, when I overheard William and Jason talking behind the bleachers. I crept closer, listened more closely to their conversation. "He suspects us." Jason said.

"Should we kill him now?" William asked. I remembered my dream from last night. Could they be talking about me?

"Not yet. The mortals might get suspicious." Jason growled. "And we do not need Perseus on our trail. Besides, in three days, you might have your chance, Hyperion. Carter Kane is all yours." I started sweating. I was right all along! I tried to move my feet, but they were frozen in place. My mind was still trying to recognize the fact that now there was a titan out to kill me. I willed my legs to move, with some difficulty, and I high-tailed out of the Gym as fast as I could.

Diana greeted me as I walked out of school. "Hey, Carter. What's up? Did you ask anyone to the prom yet?"

I shook my head. "No. I still don't know who to ask." Actually, I really still didn't know. I had been so busy thinking of Hyperion's and Atlas' plans, I forgot to ask anyone to the prom.

"Do you have a girlfriend? We can bring outsiders, you know." She suggested. From that sparkle in her eyes, I could tell that she was hinting something, but I didn't know what, exactly.

"Really? Oh, so that simplifies matters. Zia would love to come." I said.

"Who's Zia?" Diana asked.

"My girlfriend."

"Oh." Diana looked slightly crestfallen, but she hid almost immediately with a smile. "That's cool then."

"So, who're you bringing?" I asked, changing the topic. I still had to ask Zia later.

"Oh, nobody yet. No one's even asked me." Her smile faltered a bit. I remembered her story yesterday. I felt bad for her and her brother. Nobody should experience that in their lives. I mean, even though our parents died, at least we knew that they died on their own terms, and we still could see them from time to time.

"Don't worry." I reassured her. "Somebody will ask you sooner or later."

"Yeah. I hope." She muttered. I put an arm around her shoulder. "Hey, don't be like that. Somebody will ask you, I promise."

Diana smiled at me thankfully. "You're a good friend Carter. Zia's lucky to have you." She kissed me on the cheek, and skipped away. I felt the place where she kissed me, and felt my entire body tingle. I warm feeling coursed through my body. I've never felt that since…Zia's and I's first kiss. Behind me, someone else wolf-whistled. I turned around, only to find Nico smirking at me. "Dude, how did you get _two _girls to like you? You've got to tell me."

I glared at him. "You better not be cheating on my sister."

Nico laughed. "Wouldn't dream of it. Besides, that was only a joke. Although, I think she may have a crush on you." He gestured to Diana, who was hanging out with a few of her friends.

"I doubt that." I quipped. Nico shook his head. "Later, man. I still have to ask Sadie out for the prom."

"What if she's already taken?" I joked.

"Then I'll kill that bastard who asked her out in the first place." Nico said. And I had a feeling that he wasn't joking.

During dinner that night, Sadie kept blabbing on and on how sweet and romantic Nico had asked her. This time, _I_ felt like I wanted to die.

"-and then, he showed me the bouquet of roses that he was hiding behind his back. He handed it to me, knelt down, and asked me to the prom! It was _so _romantic!" Sadie squealed. I knew that she was happy beyond belief, because Sadie _never _squeals.

Walt smiled at her, though it didn't reach his eyes. It was obvious that from the way he looks at her, I knew Walt had feelings for my sister. Jaz, Alyssa, and Cleo were listening intently as Sadie drabbled about her "date" with Nico that afternoon.

"Okay…I'll just go find Zia." I said quietly. Nobody paid attention, they were all absorbed as Sadie recalled every last detail of her afternoon with Nico.

I found her in the library. (No surprise there. For some reason, she loves the library.). I knocked on the door politely, even though it was already open. "Knock knock?"

Zia turned around, a bunch of scrolls in her hand. "Oh, hello Carter. I was just researching some new spells for the trainees tomorrow." Let me explain first. Zia had been living here with us, ever since that whole fiasco with Apophis' shadow. Since I was the pharaoh, everybody let me do pretty much whatever I wanted, so transferring her possessions here was an easy task. Zia stumbled, but I caught her before she fell. The scrolls she had been holding fell out of her hand.

"Whoa, easy there. We don't want you getting overworked." I helped her stand up. See, I've had this huge crush on Zia ever since she saved us from those scorpions after Sadie and I first learned we were magicians, and now, we were officially dating. Her beautiful amber eyes gazed at me, and I couldn't help but smile at her. She was really beautiful, at least, in my eyes.

"Thank you Carter." She knelt down, and picked up the fallen scrolls. I helped her pick them up, and put them on the table.

"So, Zia…I have to ask you something." I felt my hands beginning to sweat, and my courage ebbing away little by little. SI decided to just say it bluntly. "Um, will you go the prom with me?"

Zia hugged me in delight. "Oh Carter! I thought you'd never ask." I hugged her back, and after that, we shared a very passionate kiss.

"Ahem." We pulled away, and stared at the door, where the voice from. To my surprise, ten-year old Felix was staring at us, his mouth dropping open and his entire face red. He started slowly backing away from the door. "I think I'll just go now and bleach my brain."

After he left, we laughed at his reaction. Zia started to go for the door. "I'll go talk to him. He might have been serious." she said with a wink.

I just stared at her as she walked out the door. I couldn't help but think, _she's my girlfriend._

**Again, people. **_**READ AND REVIE, **_**because reading feedbacks always makes me want to write. Seriously I love feedback more than Sadie loves Nico. ;P**


	6. My Brother Freezes a Soccer Ball

**Another Chapter. Enjoy!**

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Carter was a very nice person. Too bad he already had a girlfriend.

After school, I met a few friends, and immediately went off to find my brother. It was very tiring work; I had been doing it for years. Sometimes, I feel like I'm the older sibling, instead of the other way around. Luckily, Ariston was by the football field, so it didn't take me long to find him. He was underneath a shady tree, alone as usual, and totally absorbed in a book he was reading. I hugged him from behind. "Hey, Ari. How's my favorite brother?"

Ariston scoffed. "Lex, I'm you only brother."

I glared at him. "How many times did I tell you not to call me Lex?" I really hated that nickname. Ever since his eighth birthday…

"About as many times as I told you not to call me Ari." He quipped, not even taking the time to look at me. The space beside him was empty, so I sat beside him. The other boys were busy playing soccer, some were making out with their girlfriends, and others were hanging out by the bleachers, laughing with their friends.

"Why don't you go hang out with them? You used to love soccer." I suggested. Ariston didn't answer; in fact, he didn't even react in any way. He just kept reading his book.

I was really getting worried for my brother. Ever since our mom…died, he had always been distant and cold to everyone around him, except for me. Even then, the only thing that he would do is talk to me in that impassive voice of his. I knew what the rumors were, and I even got into a few fights with the instigators, but most of students were already past that. Actually, the new rumors were about the new couples in town, Sadie and Nico, and Percy and Annabeth. A lot of girls, even more than I could count, were totally fawning over Nico, and just as much guys were probably lusting over Sadie. Annabeth, well they liked her too, but Percy scared them all shitless. That only made more girls fall head-over-heels for him, though.

"_Used to_, sis. I _used to _love soccer. Now, leave me alone, I'm trying to read." He groaned. I scowled at his words. I swear, "leave me alone" seemed to be his new motto or something. Of course, I being the caring sister I always was did the only thing that would get his sorry butt of the ground: I grabbed his oh-so-precious book, and flung it towards the soccer field.

"Hey!" he protested. "I was reading that!"

I rolled my eyes. "Then go get it."

"You get it. You threw it there in the first place." He grumbled. I pushed him off where he was sitting. He glared at me, but I was always better at giving evil looks, and gave him one of my death glares that always scored a perfect ten. He stood up, dusting his pants and muttering something about "sisters with no respect for personal space," and went to get his book.

I threw it even farther than I had realized. He was near the center of the field, and crouched down to pick his book, when a soccer ball came out of nowhere and bounced off his head. I saw that new kid, William, laughing his head off, while the guy beside him, Jason I think his name was, tossed another soccer ball in the air.

"Watch your head, loser!" William taunted. Jason threw the other ball, aiming for his head. It hit Ariston instead in the ribs, but he caught it with both hand, at least.

I ran over to him, willing my legs to carry me faster. Ariston was still clutching the ball, coughing loudly, the air knocked out of him. I ignored the other people laughing at us as I helped him to his feet. "Thanks." He mumbled.

"No problem. Can you move?" he nodded his head slowly, but from the way his eyes were flinching, his chest still probably hurt.

"Oh look, it's the pwetty little sister. Come to help your loser of a brother?" William handed Jason another ball. Without remorse or even mercy. Jason threw the ball in the air, and kicked it hard and fast towards us.

"Diana, look out!" One of my friends, Jasmine, yelled out.

"Duck!" another one yelled.

But I didn't leave Ariston there. I put up my hands in front of my face as fast as I could, but I didn't feel the pain I was expecting. I think I heard someone yell, "STOP!", and I recognized the voice. It was Ariston's. I was a bit shocked to hear him say something so forcefully, because most of the time he's...well, he never says anything _that _forcefully.

Slowly, I opened my eyes, and peeked through my hands, and didn't believe what I was seeing.

The ball was frozen in mid-air, like time had just stopped. Ariston was in front of me, ready to catch the ball, but he was just as confused as I was.

"What just happened?" he asked. I peered all around us, afraid of other people's reactions, but time itself seemed to just, stop. The people that were watching were frozen in mid-laugh. The soccer team was frozen in mid-run, like a sheet of invisible ice had encased them. Even the birds that were flying seemed to have frozen in place as well.

"Ariston, what's happening? What did you do?" I felt the panic in my voice. I instinctively grabbed Ariston's hand, and felt relieved when I felt him squeeze it comfortingly. At least somebody else was with me in this.

"I have no idea." He said. "But let's just get out of here." He was gazing all around, like me, only there was a steely tone to his voice, and he wasn't panicking. He grabbed my hand, and pulled me away from the direction of the ball. The moment we moved away from our spot, the ball resumed its flight, shooting past us by mere inches. William looked at us in contempt. Jason, on the other hand, just smiled evilly. Then the two left.

"How did you do that?" Marcus, one of the guys on the soccer team, asked us in bewilderment. The soccer ball was in his hand, and he was alternating his gaze from it, then to us, then to the soccer ball again. "How did you two move so fast? I mean, you guys were just...like lightning…"

"We don't know." I said truthfully. We really didn't know what exactly was happening, and I felt myself panicking more and more. I glanced at the others, and sure enough, people were starting to point and give us strange looks. A few people were muttering something to their friends, and from the way their friends reacted, it wasn't good.

Ariston pulled my hand, ignoring Marcus' question, and we ran away from there as fast as we could, and went to our apartment. The owner was mom's closest friend, so she let us stay in there for free, in exchange for a little work. We even get paid for the jobs we do. Ariston locked the door behind us.

"Oh god, did you just see what happened!" I said, panicking. My hands were shaking, and no matter how much I try to calm down, I just couldn't. It's not everyday that you see the entire world around you freeze. "You just-the ball-I mean, you just froze the ball. How did you do that?"

"With my amazing powers." Ariston said sarcastically. He was pacing around the room, biting his lower lip like he does when deep in thought. I, on the other hand, was sitting in the sofa, trying to control my breathing.

"Tell me I'm going crazy. Oh god…" I clutched my head with both hands.

"Sis, you're not insane. Trust me." Ariston said. He sat down beside me.

I hugged him as tight as I could. "Ariston, I'm scared." I admitted. I felt a lump in my throat. For the first time since mom's death, Ariston hugged me back. I had never said the words "I'm sacred" ever since mom's death. I had always figured that I needed to be strong, you know, for Ariston to lean on. But now, it's just like we had changed roles all of a sudden, like I was the depressed little sister and he was the supportive big brother. And frankly, I liked it. I liked having someone to lean on for once in my life. Ariston rubbed my back, which calmed me down a bit. "Don't worry. I'm here. We'll figure what that was about, don't worry."

I hugged him even tighter. I didn't know what I would do without my brother.

**Well, that's that. You can't believe how many times I had to reread and retype this chapter. _READ AND REVIEW_, guys! And I hoped you enjoyed this story!**


	7. Carter Summons a Birdman

**Hey, everyone! Just two weeks, then I'm off to college! *sob sob* Which means that I'll probably be only able to update once a week, so expect for me to at least update this story everyday, up until College. Well, enjoy! (And review. I love reading your feedbacks :D)**

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Right. Let Carter tell you how a huge immortal being was out to kill him all that boring stuff, while yours truly tells you about more exciting stuff.

[Stop glaring Carter. You know you're a boring storyteller.]

Anyway, it was a beautiful Saturday morning. Chiron has invited us to go to camp Half-Blood for capture the flag, for he insists that "Even though your worries have passed, you still need to train for unexpected problems along the way." I couldn't grasp why we needed to train. I mean, I could speak _Ha-di _and my worries are practically done. Carter, on the other hand, could just order Amos or any other magician around instead of fighting himself because he's the Pharaoh. So again, why do we need to go?

Well the answer was that Carter had immediately sent a "yes" after he read it. Bloody typical of him. He wouldn't even let me get a day of rest. Sitting in a chair and trying to listen to whoever is speaking in front of you for an entire week is _seriously _taxing work.

This time though, there were some girls wearing silver parka's that I had never seen before loitering around the camp. They always moved in packs, with that girl, Thalia, in front of them like a leader of some sort. I noticed that most of them would never leave the archery range, and that most of the boys would stay away from them like a plague, bar a few of Apollo's and Aphrodite's kids. The Apollo kids would hit on the girls, and the girls would either flip them off, or knock them out. The Aphrodite boys would just give them flowers or something, before the girls would throw the flowers in their faces, spit on them, and rudely kick them away from their path.

I was sitting on Nico's cabin's porch, watching in amusement as an Apollo kid ran past us, his bum skewered by a silver arrow, while those girls chased him around the camp.

I nudged Nico, who was busy playing with his Nintendo DS. "Who are those girls?" I asked, pointing to the girls. Nico's happy and lovesick look immediately changed to one of pure hatred and anger.

"The Hunters of Artemis. Look out, they might try to recruit you." He went back to playing Mario Kart.

"Recruit me…" I mused. "What's in it for me if I join?"

Nico paused his game. "Immortality, the chance to be a maiden forever, blah, blah, blah, but you have to swear off love." He turned his head and looked at me straight in the eye. "Forever."

"Oh, well never mind then." Nico nodded once, before going back to playing his DS. Still, it wasn't bad being immortal, except for the whole "swearing off love forever" thing. I glanced at Nico, who was concentrating on his game, though I could see in his eyes the pain he was trying to hide. What exactly happened between him and those hunters?

That night, I decided to go to Annabeth for answers, _again. _I still remembered the last time I went to the Athena Cabin, where I asked her about Cade. It wasn't a happy memory; more so when just after I went out, I got kidnapped, tortured, _then _brainwashed. I shivered as I recounted them. Why did my life have to be so bloody difficult?

I knocked on the door politely. A small girl, probably about nine, opened the door. Her gray eyes were staring intently at me, and I saw that Percy was right. Her eyes darted all around me, like she was analyzing how best to take me down if a fight comes. "May I help you?"

"Yes. Is Annabeth in there?" she nodded, and opened the door wider. I came in, and saw Annabeth putting on…

[No Carter, I did not see Annabeth putting on clothes! Now shush, I'm trying to tell a story here!]

…her bronze armor. It astounded me on how many straps and pieces there were. Thank the gods that Egyptian battle garbs are _way _easier to put on, considering that they were only made of toughened silk. "Hey Annabeth." I called out. She turned around, her armor still half-on.

"Oh. Hey Sadie. Do you need something?" She grabbed another piece, and attached it to her armor.

"Actually, I just wanted to ask something." I sat down on her bed.

"Sure. Fire away. Can you hand me that please?" She pointed to a piece near me. I handed it to her. She smiled at me gratefully.

"I wanted to know what's with Nico and the hunters." I blurted out.

Annabeth's face looked grim. She finished putting the last piece of her armor on, and finally sheathed her celestial bronze knife to its scabbard on her hip. "It's a touchy subject, Sadie. We rarely ever speak about it, but I guess for you, I can make an exception." She sat down beside me. Her other siblings had already left for Capture-the-Flag, leaving the two of us alone, along with a very creepy silence. I was never used to silence. In the 21st Nome, there was always the faint explosion when a spell fails or the calming sound of Amos' saxophone whenever he would visit. Oftentimes, there was the chatter of fifty people being heard all around the house, so you can guess that this eerie silence unnerved me a bit.

"Sadie. Don't ever tell Nico I told you this." Annabeth warned.

"Why?" she bit her lower lip, like she was having second thoughts about telling me. I rolled me eyes. "Fine." I grumbled.

"It was back when we first met Nico. He had a sister, Bianca. She was practically the only family he had left, but when Lady Artemis gave her a chance to join the hunt, she took it without a second thought. Nico hated her for that, and even hated her more so after she died while trying to protect Percy on their quest." Annabeth explained. "Although she died a hero, Nico took her death hard. He blamed Percy, and ran away. We almost spent a year just trying to find the kid, just let him know that his sister's death was not Percy's fault. Even so, he never forgave the hunters for taking away his only family, bar Thalia, since they were practically cousins."

"Wow. Isn't Nico's life dramatic or what?" I quipped. Annabeth laughed a little.

"Yeah, it is. Now come on. Everybody's probably waiting for us."

When we arrived at the woods, more than a hundred pairs of eyes were staring at us. Carter was wearing ancient Greek armor, which suited him quite nicely.

[Yes, that was a complement Carter. Now shut it, before I take it back.]

In his hands were the crook and flail. Beside him was Zia, on her linen clothing, holding her staff in her hand. A protective circle was already blazing around her feet. Julius had his khopesh at the ready, eyeing the hunters with distaste. Felix had a mob of penguins at his feet. Alyssa held her wand, while Jaz gripped her staff tightly. Walt, on the other hand, was wearing armor that I've never seen before, and it made him look hot. But the person that took all of my attention was Nico. He was wearing a skull-shaped helmet, wielding his sword, and like Julian, he was eyeing the hunters. See, we had decided to bring our trainees over to camp, with Chiron's permission of course, so they can practice their magic in real time.

"This time, since the hunters are here, it's us and the Greeks against them." Carter informed me as soon as Annabeth and I arrived.

"Isn't that kind of unfair?" I asked. There were more demigods than hunters, and now with the addition of our trainees, the fight seemed very one-sided.

"Don't worry. Percy told me they've never won against the hunters." Carter said.

"Perfect." I grumbled. "We just came here to get our arses kicked and served to us on a silver platter, then." I held out my hand and whispered, _Heqat. _My staff appeared in my hand, the carving of the head of a kite (The bird) at one end glowing with power.

"Don't count us out yet, sis. Obviously, they've never fought Egyptians before." Carter reassured me. "Besides, I have a few new tricks up my sleeve." He winked at me. I started to wonder what those tricks were, exactly, but the horn rang, signaling the start of the game. Jaz, Walt, Alyssa, and the other trainees went with the offensive team, which included Nico, Annabeth, and Clarisse. I still wondered why they haven't won yet, even though those three alone on offense could mean victory. Percy stayed by the creek, where he was probably most powerful, and keeping a lookout for any hunters.

"Sadie, guard the flag!" carter ordered. I rolled my eyes. As if we didn't know that.

"Julius, you go in with the offense." Carter told him. Julius smiled widely, and summoned his combat avatar, diving straight towards the boundary. Carter, on the other hand, stayed behind with me.

"Aren't you going with them?" I asked, confused. Carter was a combat magician; he would rather hack and slash like Horus, instead of staying behind and performing spells, like me or Isis.

Farther away into the woods, I saw a huge spire of earth come out of the ground. The top was poking through the trees, making it easier for me to see. Probably Alyssa's work.

To our right, a chorus of war cries were heard, and the whishing sound as arrows flew. A group of maybe twelve hunters came towards us, while a silhouette of a battle behind them raged on. Percy immediately took down three of them, but the other two pulled out their knives and did a fine job keeping the son of Poseidon busy. One of them slashed at Percy's legs, but he wasn't wounded, thanks to his invincibility. He didn't even flinch. The creek suddenly grabbed the hunter, and tossed her high into the air. As she came back down, she impacted the water with a FLOOSH! That probably broke every bone in her entire body. Percy smirked at the other hunter. She stepped out of the creek, and drew out her bow. She launched four arrows in succession so vast that her hands seemed to be a blur. The creek rose, and formed a solid wall of water around Percy. He dashed forward, and broke the hunter's bow in two with Riptide. Before the hunter could even pull out her knives, Percy hilt-slammed her in the temple, and she crumpled like a sack of potatoes. Percy ran towards the rest of the fight.

The rest of them circled us. Carter eyed them with an impassive expression; he always had that now during fights.

Three of the hunters charged in with their knives. The remaining four kept their distance, their bows pointed for our hearts. I prepared myself, and yelled out, "_Ha-wi!_"

The three attacking suddenly flew backwards, knocked down by an invisible force. The remaining four shared conspiratory glances, and launched a volley of arrows directly for me. As the arrows hurtled towards me, I silently cursed myself for not making a protective circle sooner. I closed my eyes, turned my head away, and put my hands in front of my face, bracing myself for the pain.

It never came. I slowly turned my head, and opened my eyes. Carter was in front of me, standing casually, the crook pointed towards the arrows. The hieroglyph for "_Stop" _burned in front of us. The arrows were suspended in mid-air, like time itself stopped. The hunters' mouths dropped open at the sight. While the hunters were er…distracted, Carter took the moment to attack.

"_Harendotes, u-ha pwa_!" Carter chanted. He raised the crook and flail, and crossed them together. I understood what he said. "Horus, the avenger of his father, arise and attack!"

A shriek pierced the air. From the ground, a figure erupted, almost twenty feet tall. It was like Carter's avatar, with the falcon head, khopesh, and everything, only this time in flesh in blood. It revived bad memories of when carter became _that _when we were in the duat.

Carter grinned at me. "Told you."

He pointed his flail towards the hunters, and the flesh avatar shrieked, a mortifying sound that reminded me of Carter's pet griffin, Freak. It grabbed a hunter and tossed it right into a tree. A dyrad, probably the inhabitant of the tree, came out, swearing curse words in ancient Greek. How did I know? Well, if you had a boyfriend like Nico, you'll probably learn more curse words that Greek.

The avatar shrieked again, and the dryad was scared right back into its tree. The remaining three hunters shot arrows at the avatar, which only seemed to annoy it. It swatted another hunter with the back of its hand, which must be like hitting you with a wrecking ball, coming from a twenty-foot tall birdman.

[It's a birdman Carter. You got any complaints? No? Good.]

She slammed right into Zeus' fist. I checked in on her to see if she was still breathing, and thank Isis she was.

"Carter, control that thing! We can maim, not kill!" I repeated what Chiron announced. Carter nodded, and the birdman (*snicker*) kicked the last hunter in the chest, and she was sent sprawling straight for the creek.

Carter lowered the crook, and the birdman bowed deeply, before bursting into flames. I shielded my eyes away from the bright light. When the light died, there was no evidence that a giant bird-headed warrior was stomping on these grounds, except for the big hole on the ground.

"Since when can you do that?" I demanded. Carter and I had been training for nearly a year with each other, and he had never even hinted that he can do that.

"I have my secrets. Plus, being the almighty Pharaoh helps either." He gloated. I smacked him playfully in the arm. "Oh stop boasting. But thanks for the save."

Just then I saw Nico heading straight for the boundary line, the hunters' flag in his hands. He was flanked by a mob of penguins (Which I was really surprised about), and a very large jackal. Julian, still in his avatar, was taking on the hunters, and providing a distraction. The jackal leaped on a few hunters who were too close to the creek. One of them fainted, probably from the sight of the dog that was as large as Mrs. O'Leary attacking her friends. Nico went past the creek, and the Silver Flag changed to a Pure Black one with the symbol of Hades, the Helm of Darkness. Nico raised the flag, and the horn sounded. Percy, Annabeth, and Clarisse headed for us. "Who won?"

Nico waved the flag in his hands. They stared at it in disbelief. "We…actually…won…" Percy said, staring at the flag.

Clarisse repeated what he said, only more boastfully. "We won! Take that, hunters!"

The ones who heard her erupted in cheers. The girl that I checked on earlier started to come to. "What happened?" then she saw the flag in Nico's hand. "No!"

The rest of the hunters that were still conscious groaned in embarrassment. Chiron trotted over to Nico, grasped the flag, and raised it for all to see. "The campers have won for the first time in fifty-six years." He said, with a slight tone of pride in his voice. "Good game everyone, Capture the Flag is over. Now, let's all better get some rest." The jackal came forward, and I watched in amazement as it transformed into Walt. Julian released his avatar and said, "That. Was. Awesome!" Even little Felix danced around, saying how his penguins did awesome. "Did you see them? They were all like, Hi-ya! And the hunters were all like, Aahh!"

I ruffled his hair. "Okay, enough of that. Don't let the hunters hear you, they might take you penguins." I teased him. Felix pouted. "No! Not my penguins!"

The next day, I was awoken rather rudely from my sleep by two over-excited girls. I woke with a start, which happened to be because they dumped ice water all over me, _again. _I had a feeling Zia advised them what to do. As the two figures became clearer in my eyes, I scowled. I was actually wrong, for Zia didn't advise them, it was actually Zia herself. Annabeth was beside her, clothed like she was ready to go out.

"Come on, sleepyhead." Annabeth said.

"Wakey wakey." Zia agreed.

"You could've just nudged me, you know." I grumbled.

Zia shrugged. "Yeah, I know, but it wouldn't be as much fun. Now get dressed. We have to leave in thirty minutes."

I smacked my lips groggily. "Why? Where are we going?"

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "It's the prom tomorrow, remember? We need to get dresses, and Aphrodite herself is coming with us."

"Just let me get changed." I said. They both nodded, and left. I closed my door, hating every second of my life.

_Meanwhile…_

"_Hyperion, are our forces ready?" Atlas asked._

"_The strike force is prepared. Most of them are waiting for vengeance upon Jackson, and I made sure to remove any protective enchantments around the school." Hyperion answered._

"_Good. Now let me introduce you to our newest ally." Atlas led Hyperion to one of the chambers, where a spirit, clutching a scroll in his hands, waited patiently for them._

_Hyperion smiled in recognition. "Ah, Khaemwaset. Good to see you."_

_The spirit bowed. "As do I, my lord. But please, call me Setne."_

"_Very well Setne. Rise." The spirit stood proudly._

"_Setne will lead our strike force tomorrow. He said he had unfinished business with the Pharaoh." Atlas explained._

_Hyperion nodded in understanding. "Just as long as you leave the boy alive long enough for me to cut his head."_

_Setne smiled. "With pleasure, my lord."_

**Click the button…don't let my hard work go to waste…review….or else I'll probably die from neglect…**


	8. The Prom Takes Dark Turn

**Awww! Nobody is reviewing? Oh, what's the point?**

**Another chapter. *grumbles***

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It was the night I dreaded.

The night of the prom. I dreaded to think of what those Titans' surprise for us were. It was clear that whatever it was, it would _definitely _not be good.

I checked my watch. 7:30. "Come one girls! We're already late!" I called out. Every minute of waiting was like a second of torture in the Greeks' fields of punishment for me. Zia and Sadie had gone shopping along with Annabeth yesterday, but they refused to show us what they had brought. Sadie told me that it was a surprise, but I think that she just doesn't want to show it because it's too ugly.

[Stop hitting!]

Finally, just as I was contemplating whether to just stab myself with my sword to escape the waiting or not, I heard footsteps coming from the stairs. Zia walked down slowly, and mouth dropped in awe. She was like a goddess, no she was even more beautiful than Aphrodite herself. She wore a royal blue halter-style, floor length gown that made her amber eyes pop. Her hair was shining, neatly combed, and looked in its natural way. She wore Stiletto heels that matched her dress. She wore no make-up, except for the kohl that lined her eyes. All in all, she was a knockout.

I gulped. Immediately, I felt self-conscious of what I was wearing: a traditional black tuxedo, with a gold necktie. Compared to her, I looked pretty pathetic.

"Zia - you're, you're a knockout." I blurted out. Behind me, Nico groaned.

"Thank you carter." Zia said, batting her eyelashes.

Behind her, Sadie made her entrance. She was wearing an ankle-length blood-red bridesmaid-style dress that complimented her body (blech) and red Stilettos. A clutch was in her hand. Her caramel-colored hair was up in a ponytail, and she didn't put in any streaks this time. She wore make-up, which somehow made her look older, for some reason.

My opinion? Meh.

[(Slap!)]

[Ow…]

Nico, on the other hand, was just a push apart from kneeling in front of her and worshipping her like a goddess. I rolled my eyes at his reaction. Like anybody would ever worship my freak of a sister.

[DO I HAVE TO SLAP YOU AGAIN, CARTER?]

[Just try.]

[…]

[…]

[(SLAP!)]

We headed to Goode in style. Hades had given Nico a black limousine for Sadie and him to ride on, while my dad got Zia and me a white one. Percy and Annabeth arrived just after we did, in Percy's new Hummer, nonetheless. If I didn't know better, I would say our dads were competing for the best gift.

The prom was already starting. Hundreds of kids were packed into the gym, where most guys tried to impress the girls, but half of them got blown off before they could even start. Zia linked her arms to mine, which calmed me down a little. I smiled at her, and she beamed back at me.

Two hours. For two hours, we did nothing but dance, talk, and drink punch. Not that I'm complaining or anything, since it's actually nice to spend time with Zia and all, but this was getting too boring, even for my taste. After one final song, Zia and I sat down on one of the tables placed around the room.

She leaned forward. "So Carter, tell me."

"Tell you what?" I asked coolly.

"Why you've been nervous all this time. Is there somebody here that I shouldn't know about, and would result in a brutal fight if we ever meet?" she batted her eyelashes and smiled sweetly.

If I had been drinking the punch, I would have already choked to death. Fortunately, I wasn't. "No! It's just because-" I looked around once, to make sure that everything was still going normally. Percy and Annabeth were dancing. Nico was fighting with some guy, while Sadie alternated her looks between the two. Far off, I saw Ariston at the corner of the bleachers, reading a book. "Nothing. I guess I just worry too much." I told her. Luckily for me, Diana arrived, decked in a long strapless gown with heels and a clutch bag in her hand, so I was saved from more _personal_ questions, if you know what I mean.

"Hey Carter." She greeted. I greeted her back.

Her eyes strayed off to Zia. "So, is this her? Zia?" I nodded.

Diana smiled at her. "Carter's lucky."

I nodded my head in agreement. "Yes I am."

"So, who'd you bring?" I asked.

"Some kid from my class. And he's" – she turned around, and finally pointed to the guy fighting with Nico – "right there. Hold on. I'll try to see what's wrong with them." She walked away, heading for Nico and the guy, who were already getting in each other's faces.

"Carter, could you get me some punch?" Zia asked. "I'm parched."

"Sure." I made my way over to the food table, where I casually refilled our empty cups. As I was heading back, I noticed a guy was on my seat, having a small chat with Zia. He had salt and pepper hair, black eyes, and a French accent. He wore a red vest, with a long-sleeved jacket underneath. Zia chuckled, and the guy cracked a smile.

Normally, I wouldn't get jealous like that, since I trust Zia enough to not cheat on me, but that wasn't what made my blood boil. Even from my point of view, I noticed the guy's eyes roam her body, like he was checking her out. Scratch that. He_ was_ checking her out. Normally, I wouldn't mind it. So what? It's not like he would try anything on her or anything like that, especially when she could kick his butt in a heartbeat. I calmly walked over them, behind Zia, and handed her the punch. "Thanks."

"No prob. So who's your new friend?" I smiled at the guy, though I was glaring at him with my eyes.

"Oh, just somebody who loves to make a girl smile." The guy replied. He was still checking her out, but after the fifth time, right when I looked in his eyes, I saw a twinkle of malice in them. Anger started to build inside me. It was one thing to check someone out, but to actually look at them maliciously is another matter. I was now ready to rip the guy's limbs off, but fortunately, I kept my composure.

"Hey dude," I said as calmly as I could. "We need to talk. Excuse us Zia."

"Sure man." He gestured over to the doors.

We walked casually, eyeing each other threateningly. When I was sure Zia couldn't see us, I grabbed him by the collar and threatened him, saying, "Look, buddy. Until now I could tolerate your flirting with her, but don't you _dare_ look at her with those eyes of yours ever again, got that?"

He smirked. This guy must _really_ be stupid. "Or what?"

Is this idiot really challenging me?

I released him, then went back to Zia. "Let's go" I said, standing up.

She was speechless. "But, Carter, the dance-"

"Is finished, at least for us. Let's go."

As we turned to leave, the guy grabbed her left arm. "Wait a minute, miss. Please stay. Leave him." Zia looked at me pleadingly. I can see that the guy was hurting her.

That was the last straw. This idiot wants trouble? Normally though, I try to avoid fights, but he was asking for it. Well, now he's got it. I balled my fists, walked up to him coolly, and snapped my fist in his jaw in an uppercut. I followed with a jab to the stomach, and ended with a haymaker to the cheek. That sent him flying. The entire student body was staring at us now, and one of the chaperones, who probably saw the whole thing, strided over.

"You. Get out now, before I decide on punishment." The chaperone said. He had a French accent, with a hawkish face, and eyes like Horus – one brown, one blue.

"Now please, get back to the dance." He said stiffly. I saw his eyes travel over to where Percy and Annabeth were slow-dancing to the song "Dream Awake". It was actually a pretty good song, so I grabbed Zia's hand and led her to the dance floor. As we passed him, I remembered my manners.

"Oh, by the way, thank you-" I started to say, but I didn't know his name. In fact, I never even saw him before, but the students were all acting like they knew him their whole lives. Strange…

"Mr. Thorn." He supplied.

"Thank you Mr. Thorn." I said. He sneered, and I think I saw him glare in Percy's direction. Clearly, he detests them. What did they do to him?

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Diana, thankfully, got between the two guys before they could start beating each other up. I dragged Nico as far away as possible from the guy, but seriously, Nico was _strong_. I had to resort to threatening to blast him to sleep just to make him shut up and sit down.

"Stop being jealous." I said. Nico grumbled something that I didn't quite catch. My phone vibrated in my pocket, and I read it.

_Hey Sadie. How ya doing? When are you coming home?_

I sighed. It was from Liz, one of my mates from England. They had been bugging me ever since Carter gave me the phone to go back to England for a vacation, and I had been answering ever since that I had to put some more important things first, like finding out who was the stupid son of Kronos.

Nico stared at my phone like ha had never seen one before. "What?" I demanded. It was rather annoying, having him staring at me like I was going to get us both killed. He leaned over to me. "Um, Sadie, having a phone out, especially outside of Camp, is a very, _very_ bad idea. You know that, right?"

I smirked. "Yeah, but what could happen? Seriously Nico, magicians are patrolling the grounds as we speak."

"We can't have phones. Monsters will be able to track the signal like a flare, and we'll be dead." Nico pointed out. "I'm pretty sure that same rule applies to you."

I rolled my eyes. "Didn't you hear me Nico? Magicians are patrolling the grounds outside. If there are any signs of monsters or demons, I'm pretty sure they can handle it."

"Yeah, They would protect _you _and Carter_. _Me, not likely." He argued.

"Well, Percy and the Annabeth are both here, so you'll be fine."

"Great. Now I feel so very well protected." He rolled his eyes.

"Stop whining. You sound like a kid."

"Yeah, but-"

"No buts. Come on, let's go dancing."

As it turns out, Nico was horrible with slow-dancing. He kept stepping on my toes, which I tried not to be too angry about, considering that I just had my toes manicured yesterday for this moment. His movements were sloppy and stiff, which was unbelievable since I've seen him break-dance, and he was one of the better ones I've seen.

"Can we please go now?" he pleaded, giving me the puppy dog eyes.

I cracked a smile. "Not until you dance properly."

"Oh come on!" he sighed exasperatedly. "I feel like I'm gonna die any minute now."

I rolled my eyes at his antics. "Oh, just shut up and dance. It's not even that hard." I placed his hand properly on my waist, and grabbed his shoulder like I was going to judo-throw him. I led him through most of the song, which is kind of awkward since it's the boy that should be leading, not the girl. Anyway, Nico didn't seem to mind, or he just didn't know.

Beside us, two of the chaperones, a Middle-Eastern woman and a hawk-faced man, were dancing to the beat. The woman s wore dark tinted glasses, which was weird since the place was quite dark already. A veil covered her hair, which made her seem more dangerous and unpleasant. She leaned her head over the man, who had different-colored eyes, one brown, and one blue. She had a nametag that said: _Ms. M._

I wonder what the M meant?

I spotted Thalia, wearing a black gown and fishnets, going with a few other hunters to who-knows where. Iris and Drea were also among the crowd, though I didn't know where, exactly. See, Carter had insisted that back-up should be present within the prom itself, if somehow the monsters were to ever sneak past and/or kill the magicians outside. I doubted that that would ever happen, since they were some of the best the House of Life had to offer, but Chiron didn't much have a choice, especially after Carter used the whole _I'm-the-Pharaoh-and-you-will-obey-my-command_ card on him. A girl, no more than twelve years old, approached us. She was wearing an elegant strapless silver dress, and a bow was at her side, but none of the mortals seemed to notice. Nico froze up when he saw her, and from the looks of him, I'd say that he was having half a mind to draw his sword and duel this girl right here. Instead, he bowed deeply to the girl.

"Ah, Bianca's little brother. It is…_a pleasure_ to see you again." I doubt that what the girl was about to say was more pleasant than _a pleasure._

"As do I, Lady Artemis." Nico said through gritted teeth. My first thought was, _This is Artemis? _Then, I thought back to when Bast had appeared as a normal housecat. I bowed deeply following Nico's example.

"Rise, you two. Now, can either of you please tell me why I and my hunters had to be taken out of our hunt, just to dance and have boys flirt with us at this party?"

"We don't know, my lady." Nico answered.

Artemis sighed. "I can sense that you don't like me very well, son of Hades."

"I-"

"Is it because of your sister's death?" Artemis asked coldly. I gritted my teeth. How did she know? Nico took my hand in his. He pursed his lips, which he always did when thinking of an answer. I had always thought that on him, it looked quite cute.

"No, my lady." Nico answered again, but this time, the hand that he was using to hold mine was shaking.

"Just as you say. And who might this be?" she asked.

Artemis glanced one more time at him, before turning her attention to me. "Sadie Kane, is it?" She asked. I was about to answer, when I saw Nico flinch from the corner of my eye, fire burning in his eyes.

"Yes." I smiled sweetly, trying to give the impression that I was just a sweet little girl.

"Host of Isis, restorer of the path of the gods, slayer of Apophis…" she counted of my titles. "Very impressive. We could use a girl like you."

"Actually, She's already taken." Nico retorted. He seemed annoyed for some reason. Artemis' eyes flashed at him in anger. "Do not interrupt me, boy." She turned back to me.

"Well, Sadie Kane? Do you want to join?"

"Join what?" I asked, although I already had a gut feeling what she was talking about.

"The Huntresses, of course." Artemis said. "Think about it, Sadie. Immortality. The chance to live forever. Don't you want that?"

I thought for a moment. "Can Nico join?"

Artemis laughed. She must've thought I was joking. "Of course not, silly girl. No boy may join my hunt and live another day."

I smiled as sweetly as I could. "Then no. Sorry."

"You would trade immortality for a boy?" Artemis' nose flared in anger.

"Yes."

"Another one lost." Artemis let out a sigh, disappointment showing in her voice.. "Very well then. Off you two go." Beside me, Nico beamed in relief and happiness. "I thought you were gonna join." He whispered to my ear.

"Do you want me to? I mean, I could always reconsider…" I teased.

His eyes widened, and he glanced at Artemis once. "No I don't!"

"Are you sure? Because now that I think of it, Immortality is rather pleasant…" I teased further.

Nico pouted, which made my head go fuzzy. It was just so bloody cute! "Sadie, please don't."

I pinched his cheek, which he repayed with an annoyed look. "Of course I won't." I could swear that as she left, Artemis muttered, "Stupid boys. Always taking the good girls." I couldn't help but smile.

Finally, just when I thought that things were calming down, the wall just _had _to explode. Chucks of the wall were blasted inwards, and crushed a few unlucky mortals who were trying to get away. Blood splattered all over the ground. I saw an intestine fly right in front of us, and I vomited at the sight. An eye flew into the air, splattering into the ground a few feet away. A few limbs were scattered, their owners now dead under a pile of concrete.

A man in Greek armor stepped out of the smoke. Amidst the chaos, he was easily seen, with his golden armor and the hammer he was wielding. Nico ripped out his skull ring from his finger, tossed it in the air, and just as it came down, it elongated into a stygian iron sword about three feet long. Percy uncapped Riptide, Annabeth drew her dagger that was hidden underneath her gown, and Thalia and the other hunters pulled back their bowstrings, arrows already notched. I reached into the duat, but my panic was ruining my concentration. I fumbled for my staff, which I felt was slipping away from my grasp inside the duat, but at the last second, I caught hold of it and pulled it out. Carter flicked his hands, like Bast usually did when summoning her knives, and the crook and flail, the symbols of the pharaoh, appeared in his hands. The game of capture the flag replayed in my mind, where Carter summoned a twenty-foot avatar made of flesh and bone. But I doubted that that was going to be enough to stop the golden-armored man. He radiated power unlike any Greek or Egyptian god, and his eyes were trained on one person in particular.

Monsters poured into the gym from behind him; a collection of Cyclopes, hellhounds, dracaenas, and behind them was…

"Uncle Vinnie!" then I realized my mistake. "I mean, Setne!" Setne glared at me, like he was saying, _you're going to pay for that._

Setne gazed at me with hatred in his dead eyes. "Hello again, Sadie Kane. I see you've survived the wrath of Apophis." His lips twitched into a smile, which I found was very creepy. He raised the book of Thoth. "Now prepare to die."

**There. Over 3000 words. Review, PLEASE?**


	9. I Meet My Uncle

**Just a short chapter guys. You could say that this is a filler, but the transition of the storyf rom the last chapter to the one after this would be a lot smoother if I posted this, so…**

**ENJOY! (and review XD)**

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All around us was chaos. Monsters have practically invaded the gym, killing random students, and generally causing mass panic. To my right, I think I saw Percy pull out…was that a sword? Annabeth held a knife in her hand. Carter was holding something like a candy cane and some sort of whip in his hands, and Zia was holding a flaming staff. They were all taking on the monsters, but there were just too many.

My instincts told me to run, but for some reason, my body reacted differently. I immediately snuck behind and grabbed a sword from one of those snake/woman things, and stabbed it at the back before it could even turn around. My heart was pulsing, my blood boiling. It was like I had an extra surge of adrenaline rush, but what's weirder was that I felt more…relaxed, somehow, like fighting was what I was born for. I wasn't panicking, freaking out, or even feeling guilty over my first kill, but instead, it felt…natural.

"Hold!" shouted Percy, while fending off two of those one-eyed giants once. He stabbed at one with her sword, and it melted to dust at once. The other one was more cunning than its companion, making space between them after each strike. Unfortunately, it made the mistake of backing off too much, and was stabbed in the back by none other than Annabeth. Carter raised his candy cane thingy, and monsters were blasted into dust. As the battle raged on, a strong flash of light suddenly appeared in the middle of the battlefield, blinding both sides. I shielded my eyes. It was the most intense light I've ever seen in my life, and it would've probably blinded me had I not looked away just in time.

When the light died, two men in golden and silver armor, respectively, were standing in the middle of the gym. The one in the golden armor looked at me, and I recognized him.

"William?" I was too stunned to say anything else. It was a lot to take in, the building exploding, those weird creatures attacking, and me actually _killing_ one of them. Then I remembered the sword. I looked at my hand, praying that it was all just a dream, but then I saw it. The sword. It was gripped tightly in my hand, and before I could even try to throw it away, my body just sort of…reacted by itself, like basic instinct. I felt my entire arm draw back, and throw the sword at William. It impaled him at the center of his head, right in the middle of his eyes, but he just laughed it off like it was a mosquito bite. He pulled the sword right out of his head. The others regrouped from the light, and the fight continued.

He smirked in my direction. "You have to do a lot better than that, my niece."

Niece? Since when did I even have an uncle? As far as I know, my mother was an only child. William glanced at the sword in his hand. He threw it back with blinding speed, and it landed just in front of me.

"Pick it up. We could use a challenge." Gritting my teeth, I picked up the sword again. It didn't actually feel balanced in my hand, and felt like another hand was sewn onto mine. Furthermore, I didn't even know how to use the thing!

William turned to his partner. "Find the boy." He ordered. The other guy grunted, and started walking calmly towards me, like he was totally oblivious to the fight. I raised the sword in defense, but he just laughed and pushed me out of the way.

Then, I remembered something. Where the hell was Ariston?

**I know, very short, but wait for the one tomorrow!**


	10. An Important Author's Note READ PLEASE

**Important Author's Note:**

**Chapter 10 is still unfinished, oh say around 1000 words still, but I really need to ask you guys a few questions, and I REALLY need to know these:**

**1. Are my OC's becoming, oh I don't know… Mary Sues and Gary Stus?**

**2. Is the plot a little overused? Should I change it (because it's still early in the story…)**

**3. Are you guys even reading this story? ('Cause I'm getting a feeling that it's being neglected…)**

**4. Should I still continue this story?**

**Tell me your honest opinions guys, because as much as I enjoy praise, constructive criticism is actually a bit helpful too. :D**


	11. The Gym becomes a Battleground

**THANKS FOR YOU OPINIONS. Now enjoy!**

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The funny thing when you're a magician, anything is possible, literally.

I wasn't anxious to replay the mini battle of Manhattan all over again, but we had no choice. Despite our individual strength, the Titans' massive strike force simply overwhelmed us by sheer numbers.

Explosions bombarded the gym. Monsters were coming at us like a plague; there was just no stopping them. "We need to regroup!" Percy called out to the rest of us. He was taking down monsters with every swing of Riptide, but it wasn't enough. This army was like a hydra; cut off one head, two more grow back, but in this case, it seemed like five more always took the place of one. The magicians outside stumbled into the gym. I couldn't help but notice that less than half of them were present, and all of them weren't looking so hot. The ones that had staffs were using them like canes instead of for offense, and the ones that didn't were leaning on their allies for support. They looked very far from the elite magicians that Amos had prepared for this night.

"Find the son of Kronos!" I ordered to whoever can hear me. I figured, if we found him first, and bring him to camp safely, then Atlas' and Hyperion's plans would've been ruined already. It was a long shot, but we had no other choice, unless you count us running away like little girls, which would never happen.

"How in the bloody hell are we gonna do that?" Sadie demanded.

The crook and flail glowed with power; Horus was helping me on this one. I felt power surge through me, the powers of a king. In one burst of energy, I struck the floor with the flail, the three whips at the end cracking the gym floor. The cracks slithered like snakes all the way to the army. The ground opened up, like a mouth, and swallowed almost half of the monsters. Beside me, Sadie was summoning divine words with her staff. One word, and a monster would either spontaneously burst into flames, turn into dust, or freeze in a block of ice. Her gaze was concentrated on one spot in particular. I tried to make out what she was glaring at, when I saw a transparent figure standing in the back of the monsters, reading off a scroll.

"Setne." I growled through gritted teeth. I still haven't forgiven that guy for almost trying to kill me, Zia, and Sadie on multiple occasions. I blasted my way towards him, the power of Horus continually replenishing my energy.

"You're dead!" I bellowed. Setne looked up from the scroll. When he saw me, he smirked evilly.

"Technically, I already am." He quipped. I lashed at him with the flail, but it just passed right through him, like he was an illusion. His whole form shimmered, like a mirage, and reformed. I saw an annoyed expression evident on his face. "Could you _not _do that? I may be dead, but I still have feelings, you know." I struck him with the flail again.

"What are you doing with the Titans? They're going to destroy the world!" Setne only laughed. "Don't you think I know that, silly boy? And frankly, I don't care, as long as they keep their end of the bargain." He read of another spell from the book, and a Tjesu Heru formed out of smoke. Its twin heads were snarling at me, and Setne laughed manically behind it.

"Oh, this going to be fun! At least, for me." The Tjesu Heru snapped at me experimentally with one of its heads.

Bad move.

I sidestepped, and brought down the flail on its neck, decapitating the head cleanly in one quick slash. The monster hissed, but the other head back off, now wary of my weapons.

"What could you possibly want from them anyway?" I asked Setne.

"The one thing I've wanted for thousands of years." Setne answered, choosing his words carefully. I gave him a scrutinizing look. He had given me a pretty vague answer. I was half-expecting him to say that they will give him Zia as a wife or something, or let him rule over the Olympians, but from what he said, it could've been anything. The only thing I was sure of, it was _very_ personal.

"And what could that be?" I asked.

Setne laughed. "I won't spill my secrets yet, Carter Kane. You will find out when the time comes. But in the meantime, try not to die." He pointed a bony finger at me, and the Tjesu Heru charged full-force.

I did the natural thing: I charged. I know, pretty stupid of me, right? But when you have the power of the war god coursing through your veins, stupidity was probably a natural side-effect, plus, it seemed like the best choice at the moment.

_Five feet, four feet, three feet…_ I counted down in my mind. Just as the two-feet gap between us closed in, I summoned my avatar. The golden body of a falcon warrior surrounded me, and the brunt force of me and the Tjesu Heru's impact sent both of us skittering backwards. I slammed into a wall, and probably took out some monsters with my body. I smiled inwardly as the Tjesu Heru was sent straight back into Setne. As the monster neared him, his smirk slowly changed into a frown.

"No, you cursed beast. Stop, stop!" he disappeared under a big, dead carcass.

With my remaining strength, I willed myself to stand up, which was hard considering that every part of my body ached in pain. From where I was standing, I saw the entire battle. Hyperion was taking on Nico, while Percy was fighting some monster with a tail that shot barbs. I looked more closely, and saw that it had Mr. Thorn's face and eyes. I couldn't believe what I was seeing; there were monster in the prom already? From the corner of my eye, I saw Atlas locked in close combat with a girl in a silver dress: the goddess Artemis. "You would pay for what you did to Zoe, Atlas." Artemis hissed. I briefly saw Diana within the chaos, but shrugged it off as my mind playing tricks on me again. She couldn't be here. She'd have to be crazy to stay here.

The two immortals fought like they were in a dance.

[Yes, Sadie. A dance. Did I ask for your opinion?]

Atlas would strike, and Artemis would dodge it with grace. She would then counter-attack, which Atlas would either block or dodge, and the process continued. I saw her hunters fighting bravely, but the sheer number of the monsters alone overwhelmed them. I saw a hellhound bite down on a girl no older than Sadie. The girl screamed to her friends in fear, but the hellhound shadow-travelled them both away. I didn't think of what would happen to that girl. Though the battle was still early, we were already losing ground. It was getting hard to keep track of all that were on our side, since most were lost in the sea of the attacking monsters. Zia appeared behind me, her dress in tatters and her staff cleaved in two.

"Carter, we need to retreat." She sounded like she was pleading. I surveyed the battle one more time, and saw that she was right. We were getting beaten badly out there. Percy's swings were getting too sloppy. Sadie was beaded in sweat. Summoning that much magic…it's a wonder she didn't burn up yet. Nico was betting his ass handed to him by Hyperion. The others…well, some lay on the ground, their faces contorted in a face of agony, while others were fighting back-to-back, staring down the countless of monsters that faced them. The magicians were surrounding, doing the best they can to fight, but it was futile. Finally, I gave the order.

"Sadie, create a portal! Forget the mission, we have to retreat!" I shouted over the cries, screams, roars, and hisses. I felt like a failure. It was our mission to bring the son of Kronos alive, and even in that one I had failed miserably. Now, magicians, hunters, and demigods were dying left and right because of _my_ failure.

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The battle wasn't pretty; we had expected to at least hold until reinforcements come, but we never expected this battle to be a quick massacre.

After I blew up another monster, I heard a hissing sound come behind me. I turned around swiftly, but then someone screamed, "Don't!"

I managed to make out a flash of silver run in front of me, blocking my view of whoever it was. Slowly, the girl turned to stone in front my eyes. I recognized the silver parka, and the bow she was holding. She was a hunter.

"Another one for my collection." I heard a female voice say. I peered over the hunter-turned-statue, and saw a nametag.

_Ms.M._

I had the urge to look at the creature face-to-face. It was like there was a voice, nagging me to take one quick look.

"Don't look at her eyes!" I heard Annabeth scream from somewhere. I immediately looked down.

"Oh, don't be like that, dear." Ms. M said. I saw her feet striding closer and closer to me. Before I even realized what I was doing, I was already backing away, but straight into a wall. Ms. M finally caught up to me. From her shadow, I saw something slithering in her hair; they looked suspiciously like snakes.

"My my. And to think that you defeated Chaos." She sneered. "You don't look like a fighter."

That made me mad. Nobody, and I mean _nobody_, underestimates Sadie Kane! Blindly, I pointed my staff towards her voice. "_Heh-sieh!_"

_Turn back._

Ms. M was turned around, like some invisible force had yanked her. I took a second to look at her properly, and saw that I was right. She had snakes in her hair!

I immediately recognized the monster. Medusa!

_So that's what the M stood for. _I mused. Medusa turned her head towards me, and I immediately turned my eyes away. How do I defeat something that cannot be looked at? I doubted that making her look in a mirror would be useful.

Suddenly, I heard a very familiar noise: the sound of a monster disintegrating. I turned my head up, and saw Annabeth, holding her knife, and glaring at Medusa's ashes.

"She got on my nerves." Annabeth said nonchalantly, frowning at the ashes.

All around me, the dying screams of our comrades were heard. Behind me, I heard Carter scream, "Sadie, create a portal…" I didn't need any more motivation. With the last bit of my strength, I pointed my wand towards an intact portion of the wall and shouted, "_Sahad_!"

The vortex of swirling sand opened. "Done!" I shouted back.

The others sliced, hacked, blasted, and fought their way to the portal. The magicians went first, seeing as how badly beaten up they were. I made a mental note to berate them later for not doing their jobs properly. Percy and Annabeth went in next. Percy was a bit unsure of the portal, and kept giving me quizzical looks.

I rolled my eyes. "Come on! Don't be a scaredy-cat." I pushed him inside, and Annabeth followed. I heard an echo of a string of Greek curses sprout from the portal, probably from Percy.

Carter, grabbing Zia's hand, threw her in next. "Follow me next, alright?" he asked, but I think it was probably an order.

Me, being my usual self, answered, "I'll think about it. Now go!" Carter gave me one last look, like it would be his last, and jumped through the portal. I understood the boy. This battle wasn't exactly going in our favor. For all I know, it might be the last time we see each other. I tried not to think about it.

The other hunters went in next. Drea and Iris followed them. The two were now officially a couple, but it was rather hard to act it when one of them is bleeding from a stab wound on her shoulder. Iris gave me one sympathetic look before escorting Drea to the portal.

"Found him." I heard Hyperion say. I looked amidst the monsters, trying to find him. I finally saw him next to Atlas, who was digging his foot into the body of Artemis. The goddess of the hunt groaned in humiliation. Hyperion was carrying a boy on his shoulders.

Atlas spat in Artemis' face one more time, before kicking her hard in the stomach, which sent the goddess rolling over next to one of her hunters. As they turned around to leave, I caught a glimpse of the boy that Hyperion was carrying I made out black hair, tan skin, and golden eyes. I paled. Ariston had a nasty cut on his forehead, and his eyes were unfocused.

I quickly ran over to Artemis, blowing up any monster that stood in my way. I kneeled in front of the goddess quickly checking to see if she's still breathing. When I saw her chest start rising and falling, I blew out a breath I didn't know I had been holding back. Of course, I knew that being a goddess, she couldn't die, but it was instinct to see is someone was still alive, you know, in battle.

"Ariston!" Someone shrieked. My gaze lingered to a lone figure standing within the ranks of the monsters. Her gaze was locked with Hyperion, who smirked at her before disappearing in a flash of light. Diana threw the sword she was holding, but it was too late. The two titans were already gone.

The monsters were now training their eyes on her. They were probably thinking, _Fresh meat! We kill it now!_

"_Ha-di!_" I shouted. A bunch of monsters that were nearing her turned to dust.

"Come with me." I said, grabbing her hand. Diana frowned, and she slapped my hand away.

"I need to find my brother!" she declared, turning around, but I knew that there was just no bloody point. Her brother was gone, taken by those two.

"We can! But not if we're dead!" I argued, eyeing the monsters.

"No! I am not going to leave my brother! Now stay away from me, you freak!" That last comment got on my last nerve. I've been called lots of things, but never a freak. Nonetheless, I grabbed her hand, and yanked her towards the portal. Before she could even argue, I pushed her in.

Just as I was about to jump in myself, a pang of pain erupted in my stomach. I looked down, and saw a sword point sticking out of my bellybutton. I just had enough time to realize that I've been stabbed before I collapsed inside the portal.

The last thing I remembered before blacking out was seeing a pair of chocolate-brown eyes, cradling my head and begging for me to hold on.

***Le gasp* Is Sadie going to die? Well, did this one at 2:30 in the morning (my time). Review, people!  
Spoiler Alert: MAJOR SADICO MOMENT NEXT CHAPTER!**


	12. Sadie Forgets Me

**Hey, I can't believe that it took me almost five hours just to write this chapter. Well, I guess it's just one of those time where I'm not in the mood to write.**

**Well, enjoy!**

**N  
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We had expected Sadie to come out last; we never expected, though, for her to have a sword running through her stomach.

I rushed over, and caught her just as her knees buckled. Her stunning blue eyes were now drifting off, getting unfocused as more blood gushed out of the wound. Her breathing became short and ragged. I felt her life force weakening by the moment, but I knew in my gut that she was going to make it.

"Chiron! I need a medic here, now!" I called out to whoever could hear. Three Apollo kids, Chiron, and Will Solace ran full speed towards us, medic kits in hand. I brushed a stray piece of hair out of her face, and started talking to her in the most calming and soothing voice I know.

"You're alright, Sadie. Just a little cut. Don't worry, Chiron will fix you up soon. Just hold on, please. Don't…die." The words died in my throat. I pursed my lips, trying not to cry in front of her. She locked her eyes with mine one more time, as if memorizing my every feature, before closing them. I gulped. Will Solace took her from my arms, and put her on a stretcher that the other kids must've set up. They carried her to the infirmary, and I didn't have the heart, nor the courage, to follow. The cool night air seemed to make the whole ordeal more…eerie. You know the movies wherein the girl of your dreams die in your hands, and then her ghost comes back to haunt you? Well, I felt like the star in one of those right now. And I hated it.

I trudged all the way back to my cabin. The moment I closed the door, I let the tears fall. It was my worst nightmares come to life, to see her dying in front of me, and me knowing that I couldn't do a thing. I started praying to my dad, begging, pleading for him to let her live. I gust of wind blew into my cabin, but the normally relaxing sound just became an irritating whisper in my ears. If Sadie were to die…no, not going to think about it.

I crept under my covers, my mind still full of thoughts about her.

I hated my life. Why did every person that I let get close to me die? First my mother, then Bianca, now Sadie…I felt like I was cursed or something. Couldn't I have one happy ending for once in my miserable life?

I woke up with a start. Sunlight was already streaming through my windows, and the clang of swords was already heard outside.

I didn't even realize that I had slept. I silently cursed myself. How could I sleep, when my girlfriend's life is hanging by a thread? Removed my tuxedo, threw on a clean t-shirt and some jeans, and ran as fast as my legs could carry me to the infirmary.

"-wonder how he would take this." I heard Chiron's voice inside the infirmary. It was unbecoming, hearing him talk in a grave tone like that. I peeked through one of the windows, and saw that he was talking to Carter, who was sitting in one of the beds opposite to Sadie. He had puffy red eyes, probably from crying all night. He nodded sullenly, and wiped his eyes with the back of his hand.

"Sadie couldn't be…" I whispered to myself. I felt my heartbeat rise, and my fear start to overcome me. I burst through the doors, and found almost the entire Apollo cabin, along with Chiron in his wheelchair, Carter, and Zia. Sadie was sitting up on one of the beds, her blue eyes meeting mine. Without thinking, I hugged her as tight as I could. All my worries were behind me now; she was safe, and that's what mattered.

But apparently, Sadie didn't think so. She pushed me away, giving me a scrutinizing look like she was trying to figure out who I was.

"Sorry, but do I know you?" she asked in a weak voice.

I stared at her, stunned. It wasn't what I had imagined my morning to be. I had expected for her to hug me back, give me a long, passionate kiss, tell me that she's alright, and that I don't need to worry anymore.

"Sadie, it's me, Nico. Don't you remember?" I asked her, putting my hand on top of hers. She flinched away at my touch.

I turned to Chiron. "What's wrong with her?" I asked.

"I don't know how to tell you this Nico, but-"

"Sadie got amnesia." Percy blurted out. Will Solace whacked him upside the head.

"Way to ruin the suspense. And I thought you said that we break it to him gently?"

"Well, I couldn't stand the waiting!" Percy protested.

Percy's words took a moment to sink in. I pursed my lips, and turned back to Sadie. "Tell me it's not true. Tell me he's lying."

Sadie only looked at me quizzically, before standing up groggily on her feet. Her knees gave up before she could even take a step, and she fell right into my arms.

Sadie's cheeks turned red. "Sorry. Bloody clumsy of me." She said. Using me as a support, she sat back on the bed. I smiled half-heartedly at her. "It's fine. I'm just glad I could help."

Before the tears fell again, I turned my back and ran away from the infirmary.

**C  
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I stayed with Sadie the entire night.

Chiron and Will Solace did everything they can to staunch the flow of blood. I almost threw up in disgust once I saw how badly she was stabbed; the skin around the cut was turning into a sickly shade of green, the raw flesh coming out of the cut.

After a few agonizing hours, Chiron had finally stepped back. I got up from my seat and cocked my head to Sadie. "How is she?" I asked, crossing my fingers. Sadie_ had _to survive this, or else I didn't know what else to do.

"She is fine, at least physically." Chiron said. An Apollo kid cleaned up the equipment that they used, while Will Solace wrapped a final layer of bandage on Sadie's wound.

"There may be psychological trauma, or possible amnesia." Chiron informed me. "The sword she was stabbed with was filled with poison and it was already a miracle that she even survived."

They left me to be with my sister. I grabbed a chair, and sat by Sadie's bedside. I took her hand, and rubbed circles with my thumb on the back of her hand. "You'll be fine, you'll be fine." I said, but it was like I was convincing myself more than her.

-X- _**TIME LAPSE **_-X-

After Nico ran out of the infirmary, Sadie cocked her head to me. "Carter? Where in the bloody hell am I?"

Before I could answer, she added, "And who was that strange boy?"

I was too stunned to speak. Chiron had told me that she wouldn't be able to remember anything, he just didn't tell me to what extent. Sadie glanced tentatively at her surroundings. "Wow, did dad bring us here? Cause I don't remember…" she trailed off when she saw the other campers.

"I-yeah. Dad brought us here. You slept on the plane, remember? He had to carry you here, to your room." I lied. It was far from the truth, I know, but I couldn't just tell her that she was in a demigod Greek camp, and she'd just been nearly stabbed to death by a sword, could I?

"We took a plane?" Sadie looked at me incredulously. "What did gran and gramps say? Because I'm pretty sure that gran would've said no, and gramps wouldn't even think twice about it."

Chiron layed a hand on my shoulder. "Ask her about the gods, Carter. That way, we might have an idea on how many of memories were lost."

I walked over to Sadie, and sat down beside her. "Sis, I'm gonna ask you one thing, and please answer me seriously, okay?"

Sadie scrutinized my face. "Carter…you look different." She gazed down at what I was wearing. "And you don't look like Julius Kane Jr. anymore! Great, now I won't have to be ashamed of you in front of my friends!"

I frowned at her, which made her smile. Seeing her happy had always put a smile on my face, no matter what the situation was. "Yeah, well I'm still ashamed to call you my sister." I joked. Sadie punched me playfully in the arm, but she laughed as well.

Chiron cleared his throat loudly. "Oh right." I muttered. For a moment there, I had already forgotten that my sister had amnesia. A part of my mind kept telling me to just let her stay like that. She's actually less annoying if she can't remember a thing.

[Sadie says that she _is,_ and always will be, annoying. I wonder how she thinks that that's a complement.]

Taking a deep breath, I bit my lip, trying to summon the courage to ask her. "Sadie, do you know anything about the Egyptian gods?" I chose my words carefully, trying not to make me sound like I was insane.

"Of course!" she exclaimed.

I blew out a sigh of obvious relief, until she added, "You and dad talk about those all the time. So bloody annoying."

I had the urge to ask Zia to slap her in the face. Maybe that will jog her memory.

[don't glare at me Sadie. I didn't do it, did I?]

"It seems that she has forgotten all about your encounters with the ah, Egyptians." Chiron commented. I noticed that he didn't say _gods, _but I immediately understood what he was conveying. Sadie had totally forgotten about the gods, Greek and Egyptian.

"What Egyptians? Sadie asked. "I've never been to Egypt." She looked at me curiously. "Is this one of those shows on the telly where you have hidden cameras and make fun of me?" She paused dramatically.

"Oh, um, you see, before we arrived here, um, Some Egyptian tourists were staying here, you know, chilling out. You kinda, uh, had a little spat with one of them, and they were so mad that uh, one of them threw a baseball at you, and you uh, fainted." I knew that it was a pathetic excuse, but hey, I was pressured!

"Wait up," Sadie held up her hand. "You said earlier that dad brought me here while I was sleeping. And if I had a "spat" with some Egyptian tourists, you'd think I would remember it, no?"

I struck my face with my palm. "I-uh…oh what the heck." I pulled out the crook. Sadie jumped backwards on the bed, screaming hysterically. "How did you do that?" she pointed at the crook.

"_Hah-ri._" I muttered. The hieroglyph for _quiet_ appeared in front of her. "Carter, what are you doing?" Sadie demanded, going into hysterics. When the light from the spell died, Sadie was already knocked out on the bed.

"Smooth." Percy commented sarcastically.

"Hey, at least it worked."

He shrugged. "I guess, but you _have got_ to teach me how to do that. Might get Annabeth to shut up once in a while."

"Let's leave her for now. After she wakes up, we can try again." Chiron suggested. I had no problems with that, so I made my way to the door without a second opinion.

**N  
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I immediately felt bad running out on Sadie like that.

It took me almost all morning to calm myself down. That very afternoon, I tried visiting Sadie again, but when I entered the infirmary, the first thing I saw was Will going around the room like he was crazy.

"Did you see Sadie?" he asked me.

"No, why" answered.

He looked at me incredulously. "She's missing!"

**S  
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The moment I came to, the first thing I realized was that I was in a bed, again. A wincing pain came from my stomach area. I lifted up the shirt I was wearing, and saw white linen bandages wrapped around my entire torso. I put down my shirt, and noticed the words written on it: Camp Half-Blood.

I sat up in the bed, and clutched the sides of my head, due to the throbbing pain I felt. I vaguely remember Carter pointing something like a candy cane thingy at me, and then a bright light, and then…nothing. That was weird.

I smacked my lips groggily, and jumped out of the bed. There was nobody like last time, and I was _not _going to wait here in this bloody room all by myself, so I went out to go find Carter and my dad.

Speaking of Carter, he had really improved since I saw him last. They were due to arrive again today, but…that was weird, I didn't seem to remember how we even went to this place, and more so, I couldn't even remember Carter _ever_ getting a sense of style. He had matured since last Christmas, and the way he looked, he seemed more…regal, actually. Like he was a king, or something.

Anyway, the first thing I saw outside were the winged horses.

A couple of teenagers wearing some sort of renaissance fair armor guided the horses towards a stable, but the horses had wings. And if that wasn't weird enough, I saw a couple of kids fighting with…were those swords? I walked around the place, admiring the themes of the buildings. They looked pretty ancient, but otherwise cool.

"Dad? Carter? Where are you guys?" I called out. A few kids looked at me, and I swear that some of them looked very familiar. I guy with chocolate-brown eyes and messy black hair looked at me wistfully, before running off towards me.

I immediately recognized him as the guy from earlier, the one who had steadied me in the infirmary. He was pretty good-looking, and reminded me of somebody. My brain hurt just thinking about that.

"Where have you been?" he asked as soon as he reached me.

"What, no hi?" I asked sarcastically. Even though I didn't even know this boy, he looked like a good conversation. His eyes swept over me, no doubt checking me out.

"Hi. Where have you been?"

I rolled my eyes. "Just walking around. Don't tell me that it's forbidden in this place, Nicky."

"Nico." he corrected. "And no, it's not forbidden. Just-"

Behind me, I heard Carter's voice yelling. "Sadie! Where have you been? I have been looking everywhere for you!"

"Same here." Nico said.

"Seriously, can't I walk around this renaissance fair without someone coming for me and demanding where I have been?"

Carter raised an eyebrow. "Renaissance fair?"

I waved my hand around. "Yes. What else can this be?" Behind Carter, I watched in amusement at the scene unfolding in front of me, as two kids chased each other with swords, yelling threats at each other.

"Maybe we should tell her now." Nico suggested.

"Tell me what?"

"You're right. She's seen the camp now. Might as well try." Carter agreed.

"Try what?"

Both of them didn't answer. Carter and Nico took me by my arms and guided, well dragged me against my will towards a building that looked like a miniature haunted house. It brought back memories of my mates Liz and Emma freaking out at that carnival last year. Nico opened the door, and Carter pushed me inside.

As soon as I saw the interior of the cabin, images flashed inside my mind. Me with a boy, kissing inside the cabin, me dragging Carter outside, but mostly images of me and the boy kissing.

"You got this?" Carter said by the door. Nico nodded, and carter closed the door. Now, I was alone with a boy in a building, with no adult supervision. I would've blushed, if it weren't for the boy kissing me without permission.

I melted in his kiss. I was so surprised, I didn't even notice him pull out.

"Do you remember anything yet?"

**N  
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When Sadie didn't answer, I leaned in again, and gave her an even deeper kiss. This time, she didn't just stand there, stunned, but she actually returned my kiss. I spark of hope reignited in me. If she's kissing back, the must mean that her memory was returning. I pulled away, and my eyes met hers. They weren't confused, but more like they just realized something.

"Do you remember now?" I asked.

"Not actually…" she muttered. I sat her down on my bed, and stood in front of her. I showed her the necklace that she gave me during out five-month anniversary, a necklace with half a heart strung in it as a pendant. I never removed it, even when taking a bath. To me, it was like her heart. I reached out, and took out a silver necklace that was inside her shirt. The other half of the heart was strung in it. I put them together, and showed her the inscription written on it.

_You will always have my heart, wherever I may be._

_Nico_

I had these made by Hephaestus himself. It wasn't an easy task, since he always had asked for favors in return. Sadie stared at the inscription for a long time. She blinked a few times, like she had finally realized something else. Finally, she looked at me. She pursed her lips, and I saw a tear make its way down her cheek. "Nico…"

**S  
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When Nico showed me the heart, a memory ignited in my mind, like something that was buried suddenly popped up.

_I was in my room at Brooklyn House, dancing around to Adele, when Nico appeared out of nowhere literally. One moment, there was a blank wall, and the next, he was standing there, smirking at me dancing._

"_Ah!" I screamed, and reached for my wand. Nico held out his hand. "It's me!"_

"_Nico, what are you doing just appearing in my room?" I demanded. "I could've been changing for all you knew." I sat down on my bed, still glaring at him. He sat down beside me, and pulled out a box. It was about the size of a book, colored black, and carved with gold gildings and ornate designs that really complemented with the black background.._

"_I just wanted to give this to you." He said, and handed me the box. When our fingers touched, electricity seemed to pass through me. Slowly, I lifted the lid, and saw a necklace, made of small gold and silver links, alternating each other. Gold, then silver, then gold, and so on. But what really caught my attention was the pendant on the middle. It was half a heart, with golden edges and something written in a very beautiful handwriting. Ornate decorations were carved in the silver itself, but somehow, it still made the words readable: You have where may Nico._

_I read the words again, just to make sure that I haven't misread it or something. I showed him the pendant. "Is it really supposed to be like this?"_

_Nico chuckled. He reached inside his shirt, and pulled out another one identical to mine. He connected the broken piece of his heart to mine, and I finally understood the message:_

You will always have my heart, wherever I may be.

Nico

_I almost cried as I read the words. I leaned over, and gave Nico one deep, long kiss._

"_Thank you, but what's the occasion?"_

"_Just a gift." He said nonchalantly. "Do you like it?"_

_I squealed in overhappiness. "Like it? I love it!" I hugged him fiercely around the neck. He hugged me back._

After that memory, other ones started flooding my mind. I felt a tear roll down my cheek. How could I have forgotten him? "Nico…" I trailed off.

Nico hugged me fiercely. "Sadie, do you remember anything now?"

I slowly nodded my head. "I'm so sorry…" I sobbed onto his shoulder.

"it's okay, it's not your fault." He rubbed my back. I had found that that always calmed me down.

I blinked my eyes a few times, and amidst all the information overloading my mind, I finally realized one detail out of place.

I looked at Nico. "What am I wearing?"

"What?"

"I was pretty sure I was wearing my dress. Now I'm in a shirt and jeans. Did you-did you change me?" I choked at the words. I was pretty sure that me entire face was red.

Nico looked alarmed by my question. "I didn't! Probably one of the Apollo kids, or something."

"The _Apollo_ kids changed my clothes?" I didn't know that much about Apollo, but from what I've heard, he was a very bug flirt, and seemed to pass off that trait to his kids. I shuddered, thinking of what they could have. For all I knew, they took pictures of me in my underwear or something.

"Girls. One of the girls." Nico clarified. I blew out a sigh of relief.

"Good."

Just then, the door swung open, and Percy stumbled inside, panting.

Nico and I rushed over to him. "Hey man, what happened to you? Running from Annabeth again?"

"N-no…" he stuttered. "Worse."

"What could be worse than an angry Annabeth?" I blurted out.

"Diana…claimed…not good." Percy said.

"Oh good! Now that clears everything up." I said sarcastically.

Percy cleared his throat. "Diana just got claimed," he said more slowly. He looked at us right in the eyes, and I saw fear in them. "by Kronos."

**Done, finally! REVIEW!**

**Oh, and thanks for your opinions. It really helped.**


	13. Diana Gets a Sword

**Okay...I admit it, I wrote this after playing tetris battle on facebook...:P  
**

**IJK! Actually, I wrote this yesterday after posting the last chapter. Funny how you get the urge to write after posting the chapter you've written last, huh? But anyway, I'm following Vans321's advice of just posting a chapter a day, so just expect this one to be a bit better, since I had more time to write this.**

**More than 4000 words…14 pages…I feel so sleepy…**

**Enjoy…now let me sleep…zzzzzzzzz….**

* * *

**N  
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I couldn't think of anything else to say except, "Are you effing kidding me? Kronos is _dead!" _I made sure to emphasize the word "dead".

"Apparently not." Percy muttered. He was still trying to control his breathing.

"What do you mean, apparently not? You saw it yourself! We all did!" I said.

"Well then, how else could you explain the scythe that appeared above her head, huh?" Percy asked me. I didn't have an answer to that; it was just too damn impossible. Sadie alternated her looks between us. "Wait up, Diana's here?" she asked.

Percy looked at her incredulously. "You should know. You're the one that brought her here."

"I-" she faltered. "It was just the spur of the moment, I guess."

"C'mon, follow me. She's going hysterical in the Big House." Percy said.

Before we even reached the doors, I could already pick up some of the arguments.

"-is that possible? There are no gods!" I heard Diana's voice shout.

"Trust me kid, you better take that back _right now_, if you know what's good for you." Mr. D's angry voice yelled back. I had never seen nor heard Mr. D when he's angry before, so you could tell that this was a once in a lifetime opportunity.

I rushed past Percy, and opened the door of the big house. Inside, I saw all the cabin counselors, Carter, Amos, Zia, Diana, Chiron, and Mr. D. Diana and Mr. D were standing in the middle of the room, arguing and yelling at each other's faces. The rest watched them like a tennis match, clearly not wanting to get in their way.

"There is only one God, at least, that's what my mom told me. And I'm pretty sure as hell that He doesn't dress like that!" Diana yelled. She stabbed a finger at Mr. D's chest, or more specifically, at his shirt. Mr. D gazed at her finger, before slapping it away.

"Don't you dare disrespect a god! And what do you have against my wardrobe? We gods can dress however we want!" Mr. D yelled back. His form shimmered, and in the blink of an eye, Mr. D was wearing celestial bronze armor. "How's this?"

I almost wanted to laugh my head off. The celestial bronze armor was _definitely_ not made for Mr. D. The armor straps were crooked, the armor was ten sizes too big and the whole thing reached up to his mid-thigh. Plus, there was the Greek Symbol of Hephaestus carved in the right breastplate.

"Too creepy." Diana said, scrunching her nose in disapproval. "And you look like an idiot."

I smiled at her. This was one girl I was going to like other than Sadie. Mr. D stared at her, stunned. I looked at her in disbelief. Sure, it was funny seeing a mortal shout at a god, but that was like signing your own death warrant. When Mr. D finally regained his composure, a scowl formed on his face. "You dare-" purple light started glowing from his fingers, and the air was stenched in the smell of grapes and wine.

Diana was saved from Mr. D's wrath by Chiron, who stepped in between them in an attempt to break them apart. "Mr. D. May I remind you that it is one of the ancient laws that you do _not,_ under any circumstances, strike a mortal that does not challenge you?" he turned to Diana. "And you. Show some respect. Mr. D may not deserve it, but he is still a god."

"Yeah-hey! What does that mean?" Mr. D glared at Chiron, but he only gave the god a cold shoulder.

Behind me, Sadie and Percy appeared. "What's going on here?" Sadie asked.

I grinned at her. "Oh, you just missed Diana bad-mouth Mr. D there."

Percy and Sadie stared at Diana in awe. The girl smiled at them, before going back to glaring at the god.

"If only you weren't our salvation, I'll-" Mr. D hesitated. He looked up to the ceiling, then at Diana again. "Father calls us. We'll finish this next time, mortal. He snarled. He snapped his fingers, and the air twisted around him. A brilliant flash of light later, and Mr. D was gone.

"Well, that was…entertaining." Amos commented. The others agreed.

"Awesome!" The Stoll brothers high-fived Diana.

"I can't believe dad let that go." Pollux said in admiration.

"Punk." Clarisse muttered, but she said it with grudging respect.

I went over and high-fived her. "You've got some balls, standing up to a god like that."

Diana blushed. Then, I felt someone slap me upside the head. "Watch your words, death breath. That's a girl you're talking to." Thalia said.

"Huh?" I asked, confused.

Thalia rolled her eyes. "Ugh. Never mind."

Chiron stomped his hoof, and motioned for Sadie, Percy, and me to sit down. I took up the empty seat beside Thalia, Sadie beside carter, and Percy beside Annabeth. "This is bad news, everyone. My father is more clever than I thought, creating two demititans instead of one."

Percy stood up abruptly. "A demititan? As in, half-titan, half-mortal? How in Zeus' name is that even possible?"

"It is beyond my knowledge and area of expertise." Chiron admitted. "I do not know how Kronos got the power, or even the time, no pun intended, to make this happen, but he did. Now, we must prepare our forces, for I am sure that if wind of another child of Kronos leaks out, there will be war."

"The House of Life is always ready." Amos said. "We must avenge our fallen comrades."

Chiron nodded to him. "We must issue another quest to find Diana's brother."

"I will go." Diana said almost too quickly. "He's my brother."

Chiron frowned, and shook his head. "I'm afraid not, my dear. You aren't trained, and now that you know who you truly are, your smell will be far more greater than ever, and you will attract more monsters."

"But I need to go!" Diana protested. "He's my brother, for crying out loud!"

"No." Chiron said firmly. "We shall stick to the original five: Carter, Percy, Annabeth, Nico, and Sadie."

"I want to go too." Zia said bravely.

"And us." Drea and Iris chorused.

"No." Carter said. "The prophecy's last line implied that if more than five goes, only five will make it back, and the rest are dead. It's better to just stick with five." I saw him looking at Zia sympathetically.

"Plus, the five of us had already started the quest when we went to Goode. I think we should be the ones to finish it." I added. Chiron gave me a solemn nod.

"Good point." He looked at the others, or more likely, Diana in particular. "It has been decided. The ones that started this quest shall finish it. Any arguments?"

No one dared to answer.

"Good, now this meeting is finished. The questers leave tomorrow at first dawn." He walked out of the Big House.

"Stupid centaur." Diana snarled. Sadie put a hand on her shoulder. "We'll find your brother, I promise."

Diana smiled at her wistfully.

"Hey, I know something that can cheer you up." Percy interrupted. He put Diana under his arm. "Wanna learn how to swordfight?"

As it turned out, Diana _sucked _at swordfighting. Every time Percy would strike, she would either trip, block to low, or just flat out get hit. Sadie and I watched in the distance.

"You know, I think she was a lot better at the gym." She commented.

"Goode had swordfighting as P.E.?" I asked, because the whole time I was there, I did _not_ know that. "You should've told me. That way, I could have at least aced one class."

Sadie rolled her eyes at me. "No, death boy. During the battle, last night." She explained.

"Speaking about that, does your wound still hurt?" I touched her stomach, and felt the bandages still there. I saw Sadie's eye twitch.

"Sometimes, especially if _people touch it._" Sadie hissed. I pulled my hand away, muttering a quick, "sorry."

We went back to watching Diana and Percy spar, _again_. This time, Diana swung too low, and Percy did the disarming maneuver Luke taught him years ago. He caught Diana's blade with the base of his sword, and put all his power in a downward thrust. Diana's sword went skittering to the floor, and Riptide was at her throat in an instant. Percy picked up her sword, and handed it back to her. He told her something, and repositioned her grip on the sword. Diana quickly flashed a smiled, and the two went back to sparring.

I heard a clip-clopping sound behind us. "It seems she is having trouble with the sword's balance." Chiron commented. "The blade probably wasn't calibrated for her hand."

"Huh?" Sadie and I both asked at the same time, bewildered.

"Give her this." Chiron ordered. He pulled out a sword from the scabbard on his hip. Flipping it, he handed it to me, hilt-first.

I gripped it, and felt power emanating through it. Upon closer inspection, I saw the familiar half celestial bronze, half tempered steel blade. "This isn't-" My heart almost stopped at the sight of it.

"We found it during the reconstruction of Olympus." Chiron said. "It was lodged inside Hestia' hearth, but eventually, we managed to pull it out."

I was holding the blade by arm's length. Just seeing it brought back too many bad memories. Sadie, however, was looking at the blade in curiosity. "Whoa, what kind of sword is that?" She looked closer at the sword.

"Backbiter used to be Kronos' weapon." I explained. "Forged by the Telkhines themselves."

"Then why doesn't anybody use it?" Sadie asked me.

"After the Battle of Manhattan, it was…well, lost." I answered nonchalantly.

"But wasn't Kronos' weapon a scythe?"

"It could change into a scythe, at least when Kronos was holding it. I don't really know." I answered. I looked at Chiron behind us. "Why do you want her to have it?"

"It was her father's weapon." Chiron said simply. Like that explained everything.

"And?"

"Just give it to her." Chiron sighed.

I got up, and made my way over to the two, just as Diana was disarmed, _again. _"Hey, Diana!" I waved at her. She waved back.

"Hey, what's up? Percy here's been teaching me swordfighting, but I still can't get the basics." She twirled her sword in her hand, but it slipped out of her hand and nearly impaled Clarisse in the head behind her.

"Sorry!" she called out.

"Watch it, punk!" Clarisse bellowed.

Diana turned back to us sheepishly. "Well, that was awkward."

"Yeah." I agreed. "By the way, Chiron wanted me to give you this." I hesitantly handed her Backbiter.

Percy's eyes widened as Diana took the blade. "That isn't-" he turned to me.

"Backbiter. Yeah, it is." I admitted.

"Gods, how did you find this?" He was running a hand along the side of the blade. Due to his invincibility, he didn't get cut, but I could tell that the blade was still sharp. Percy glanced at Diana, and took a few steps backward. "Again." He said. I walked back to where Chiron and Sadie were staying.

This time, Diana moves weren't as sloppy as before, but they still kinda sucked. Even from a distance, I could see that she had improved, at least, just a little. There spar was now taking twenty seconds…thirty…forty…fifty…sixty…

"Oh my gods. She lasted a full minute?" I gasped. The battle still ended pretty much the same way, with both Riptide and Backbiter centimeters from Diana's throat, but at least she gave much better fight this time.

"Her moves are still sloppy. Perhaps a sword isn't really her weapon…" Chiron mused to himself, leaving me and Sadie to wonder about what he said.

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What did Nico call this sword…Backbiter? I wonder why it was named that?

I still had a hard time accepting the fact the Greek and Egyptian gods exist. That and my dad was supposedly the Evil Titan of Time. I mean, where has he been all my life? He didn't even send us a lousy child-support check or something.

Since Kronos didn't have a cabin, seeing as he was supposedly the "evil" Titan (sucks for me), the Hermes Kids had been very generous to let me sleep in their cabin, or at least, Travis and Connor were. The rest of the campers kept giving me evil looks, like I'd just killed their brothers or something. But then, my dad probably did, and now they're blaming me. Great.

"Okay everyone, lights out!" Travis announced.

"Chiron called for a "counselors only" meeting. So everybody go to sleep." Connor added. Then he glared at everyone. "I mean it. Anyone who's still awake when we return will be on prank prohibition for the entire week."

"Awww!" everyone whined. Travis smirked, and they left through the doors.

"What's prank prohibition?" I asked the kid next to me.

"It means no pranking whatsoever for any given amount of time, depending on how much time Travis and Connor choose." The kid shuddered. "It's a nightmare."

As soon as the others were asleep, I grabbed Backbiter, slid it into a scabbard Travis stole for me, and crept my way towards the Big House. I instantly regretted it, after one close encounter with the harpies, and one very angry dryad (don't ask). I crept towards a window, and peeked through. Almost all of the cabin leaders were there, except for a few minor gods' kids.

"We don't even know where to start looking." I heard Percy say.

"I may have a few ideas." Chiron retorted. "But traveling with four others is dangerous, Percy. You remember what happened to Bianca, and Zoe?"

I saw Nico flinch when Chiron mentioned the name Bianca. I wonder who she was?

Percy also flinched. "Please, don't remind me. I still have nightmares about that." He frowned at Chiron's direction. Annabeth stroked Percy's arm, which calmed him down a little. "If you want three to go, then then me, Percy," – Annabeth looked towards the window where I was crouching – "And Diana will go."

Chiron shook his head firmly. "No. Anyone but Diana."

"Why?" Nico asked. "Because she's Kronos' daughter?" Everyone surrounding the table stared at him, then at Chiron. I wonder if he ever got mad like this before. Chiron's nostrils flared.

"Because she's a danger to everyone around her!" Chiron shouted.

"What?" I exclaimed. Everyone turned their heads towards my voice. "Oh snap."

"Diana?" Chiron asked in a controlled voice. "Come in."

I opened the window, and climbed through. Naturally, as I landed on the floor, one of my feet got caught in the window, and I fell down flat on my face.

_Smooth Diana. _I scolded myself. _Very smooth._

I stood up, and dusted myself off. I sat in a free chair beside Travis and Connor, who were _not_ very happy to see me.

"I thought we told you to go to sleep." Travis said, frowning.

"Yeah. And because you're not one of our siblings, we can't put you on prank prohibition. Damnit." Connor mumbled, but we all heard him. The rest of the cabin leaders stifled a laugh, and the two just pouted. "See what you've done?" they pointed to all the ones laughing.

"Alright, enough of that." Chiron's face remained stern, and impassive.

"Since she's here," Percy gestured to me. "You might want to repeat what you said." He smirked.

"She is a danger to this camp, and to every demigod around her." Chiron repeated. Percy stared at him, stunned with disbelief.

"Chiron!" Annabeth protested.

"I'm sorry, my dear, but it's the truth. The titans will do everything in their power to get her, even if it means destroying this camp or killing anyone that gets in their way." Chiron turned to me. "We must keep your identity for as long as we can, at least, until Hyperion and atlas are put away. Permanently."

"But I need to save my brother!" I protested. "Why won't you let me do that?"

Chiron raised his voice. "Because there is a possibility, no matter how small, of you joining the titans!"

I was too stunned to speak. He'd just accused me of being a traitor, even though he never actually said it.

"I will not." I said.

"What?"

"Despite what you think, I will not join the titans! They hurt my brother, for one!" I said more bravely.

"Whatever the reason may be, you will not go." Chiron said.

"I must go." I insisted.

"You will not."

"I will."

"You will not, and that is final!"

"I will, and that is final!" I shouted back, mimicking his voice at the last part. The counselors laughed at my childish antics, but it did the job. Chiron was beyond annoyed. He bit his lower lip, like he was trying not to curse me into oblivion or something.

"Go then!" he waved his hand dismissively. "But if you die, do not blame me."

"Fine." I huffed, crossing my arms.

Carter cleared his throat loudly. "Okay then. Now that that's settled, Chiron, please tell us where you might think they have gone to?"

"Actually, I have absolutely no idea, but I know someone who might." Chiron said gravely.

"WHAT?" All of us, except Carter, chorused.

"He might be right." Carter said. "I had a dream about that a few days ago."

"Tell us." Chiron said.

Carter told us of what he dreamed of days before. Once he finished relaying, Chiron took a deep breath, and stared at the fireplace.

"So they've found out." He murmured.

"Who found out what?" I asked.

Chiron kept staring at the fireplace. "It is an old tale, one that has gotten lost in the myths. You all remember when Kronos was originally overthrown?" They all nodded, except me. I had always been able to scrape by on a C at school, and mythology just wasn't one of my strong points.

"No idea." I told him.

"Kronos' scythe was one of the most powerful weapons ever to be seen in existence." Chiron explained. "At the least, its sheer destructive power equaled Zeus' master bolt, and its capabilities in battle exceed even that. The very scythe that he used to chop Ouranos to pieces, and the one that Zeus had use to chop _him_ to pieces. The three brothers themselves had hidden his scythe, in fear that someone may use the scythe once again, and rise against them. In fact, they hid it so well that Kronos himself wasn't able to find it, and was forced to make another one." He gestured to Backbiter, strapped to my hip.

"So they are trying to find it?" Sadie guessed.

Chiron nodded his head. "Correct. And if either Hyperion and Atlas get their hands on it, they will have enough power to overthrow the gods. And after that, they will free the other titans, and the world will end as we know it. A few others have already joined their cause, like Hecate and Mnemosyne, for example."

"Mom would never join the Titans! at least, not again." a girl with multicolored eyes and flowing amber hair protested.

"I'm very sorry Lou Ellen, but Athena told me herself." Chiron said.

"And what does this all have to do with me and Ariston?" I asked, not seeing our connection to any of this.

"I believe that the titans may manipulate your brother, and use him to find Kronos' scythe. They believe that only someone who can control time has a chance of finding it. Afterwards, the will dispose of him." I gulped when he said that they will dispose of him. I might not be the greatest in English, but I'm pretty sure that the word "dispose" rhymed with the word "kill".

"But wait," Annabeth interrupted. "You just said that even Kronos himself couldn't find it. Why would they think that his demititan son could even stand a chance?"

Sadie's eyes grew big. "Uncle Vinnie!"

"Huh?" I asked. "Uncle Vinnie, was like, mortal and dead a hundred years ago, wasn't he?"

Carter groaned. "Sadie, you have got to stop calling him that. It confuses people."

Sadie ignored him.

"Anyway, what my sister was trying to say was, Setne was a magician, and right now, his spirit lurks in the mortal world. Maybe the titans were planning on tricking him to do a spell, or something." Carter explained. "The book of Thoth that he has contains some of the most powerful spells in the entire known world. They could easily locate the scythe with his help."

"The book of Thoth, why does that sound familiar…And Setne…where have I heard that name before…" Chiron mused to himself.

"So we find my brother, before he finds the stupid scythe, and before they kill him. That is the plan, right?" I guessed, breaking the silence.

"Exactly." Chiron said, breaking away from his thoughts. "And to start your quest, you will need Rachel to guide you. Unfortunately, she's on vacation with her parents in England, so you will have to go there first."

My mouth dropped open at his words. "But, England is like, a million miles from here! What-"

"Why do we need Rachel? We already have a prophecy" – Annabeth cut me off . Her tone was _very_ venomous, like the thought of having this Rachel person joining on our quest would give her nightmares for the rest of her life – "and why can't you just call her here?"

"Unfortunately, it's not that simple." Chiron answered simply. "Her mother can see through the mist, unlike her father, and will definitely notice if her only daughter was gone, even for a day."

"England?" Sadie perked up. "Perfect! I desperately need a vacation."

Carter groaned. "We are not going a vacation, Sadie."

"But I missed that place for ages! Can we at least visit Gran and Gramps, please?" Sadie pleaded.

"Oh, alright. But just one quick stop, and don't expect me to come inside." Carter grumbled.

"Yes!" Sadie did a fist pump. "And don't worry. They won't let you in anyways." She said. Carter stuck out his tongue at her. She stuck out her tongue too. I facepalmed. I had totally expected this from Sadie, but from Carter, it just made him look a lot less cooler.

"Ooohh! We want to come too!" Travis and Connor said.

Chiron threw up his hands. "Does everyone want to die? The prophecy said _five_. It was already a risk taking _six_, but now _eight_? No, I absolutely forbid it."

Travis groaned. "Oh, come on!"

"No."

"We could help." Connor suggested.

"No." Chiron answered again.

The twins exchanged conspiratory smirks. "We'll make the camp miserable."

"No." Chiron frowned.

"We'll make the Athena Cabin miserable."

"Let me think…no."

"Then, we'll make the Demeter Cabin miserable."

"Hmmm…no."

"We'll make Mr. D miserable."

"Still, no."

"Okay then…we'll make _you_ miserable." Travis said.

"Until they get back from the quest. And that could take weeks." Connor added, waggling his eyebrows. The twins smirked evilly, then they both paused dramatically.

Even Chiron grimaced at that one. "Oh, alright. But you two better behave yourselves." He massaged his temples and sighed.

"Yes!" Travis and Connor high-fived each other. **(****A/N: Never underestimate the power of annoyance...haha)**

Chiron looked at everyone. "If no one else wants to come, then this meeting is over. Questers, be prepared at seven a.m. sharp tomorrow. Argus will be driving you straight to the docks."

"Why the docks?" I asked.

"Zeus will kill me if I ever get on an airplane." Percy explained.

"And the same goes for you too, Diana. Zeus thinks you and your brother are a threat, but he has agreed not to blow you up, until your fates come to pass." Chiron said. "But he did not agree to not shoot you out of the sky if you ever dare come into his territory."

I gulped. "Okay, that's… I'll uh, keep that in mind." Then, I just realized something. "Wait, so of Kronos is my father, that wouldn't that make me Zeus' half-sister or something?"

Chiron was taken aback by my question. "Uh, yes. I think it does. Technically."

I smiled evilly at Percy. "So I'm technically your aunt."

"Whatever." he rolled his eyes. "At least I'm not old."

"But you are an idiot."

"Hey!"

"That's the best you can come up with, hey?"

"Uh..."

"I rest my case." All of them were cracking up, even Annabeth, Percy glared at me, before pouting at her. "Not you too!"

"Meeting adjourned." Chiron announced, though he was cracking up a little himself. "Good night, heroes."

After he left, Percy called our attention. "Diana, you can't go. This might be too dangerous for you. Plus, you don't even know how to use a sword."

"Beaten in two minutes flat." Nico muttered. The others laughed.

"Two…minutes…? Even Prissy did better his first time!" Clarisse said between laughs.

"I tripped!" I protested.

Nico laughed. "Same thing."

"Yeah, well that just proves my point. It's still dangerous." Percy said.

"Even if it is, I'll still go, even if I have to threaten you at sword point, _nephew_." I joked.

Percy cracked a smile. "Sure you will, _Auntie Diana_."

That night, I had a dreamless sleep. The next morning, I was woken up by two brothers screaming into my ears.

"HEY, WAKE UP! WE'RE ALREADY READY TO GO!"

"Holy shit!" I instinctively grabbed Backbiter, but it was nowhere in sight. I rubbed the sleepiness out of my eyes first, before giving Travis and Connor a death glare. Travis just shrugged, and tossed me a backpack. "We took the liberty of packing your things for you. Clothes, cash, drachmas, even your sword. Just check the side pocket." I did, wondering how my sword could fit in a side pocket, but found a reusable click pen instead. "Click it." Connor insisted.

I clicked it. In half a second, Backbiter sprung to life.

"Whoa. Just like Percy's sword. Thanks guys." I smiled at them.

Connor blushed. "No prob. Lou Ellen owed me anyway. Now get ready. We leave in an hour. Meet us by Thalia's tree." I swear as they left, I hear Travis mutter, "Connor's got a crush! Connor's got a crush!" **(A/N: I'm not sure how old Connor is...let's just say that he's fifteen in this story.)**

I took a quick shower, threw on some jeans, and a Camp Half-Blood t-shirt, and trudged all the way to the top of the hill, where the others were waiting for me.

"So, we ready to go?" I asked, excited. I had never left the New York area in my entire life, nor had I ridden on a ship before. My mom always said that we didn't have the money. Just the thought of my mom made me want to tear up, but I blinked them away. No point in crying now. She's already dead.

"England, here we come!" Sadie said in a singsong voice.

* * *

**10 times...I had to rewrite this chapter 10 freaking times...well, what did you think of this chapter:**

**-Awesome!**

**-ALMOST awesome!**

**-Fine.**

**-Good.**

**-Meh.**

**-You suck. Don't write anymore. (Though I would rather that no one say this…LoL) **

**REVIEW! Oh, and thanks for reviewing...I love reading your feedbacks! So REVIEW! Anyway, when I reread this, I couldn't believe I typed this whole freaking chapter! I mean, when I was typing it, I felt like "Meh, it's not that good, I could probably do better." But when I finally read it, it turned out a lot better than expected! Did any of you guys ever experience that when writing? :P**

**One more question, did Diana become a Mary Sue? Because I'd be more than happy to remove this entire story if one of my characters becomes a Mary Sue...I really hate them, you know? (Okay,I may be exaggerating a little when I said that I'd remove the _entire_ story, but you know what I mean.)  
**


	14. AN New Plans

**Wait, I changed my mind, The Romans will be here in later chapters (or maybe the sequel), and Camp Jupiter existed, but Heroes of Olympus will not happen like that exactly, though Nico saved Hazel, Jason and Percy were not exchanged yet, and Piper and Leo still came (or will come) to camp.**

**That's all. Peace!**


	15. We Visit London

I noticed that only two reviewed the last chapter…drats…what did I do, or type, wrong? Or did you guys just plain hated it? I don't really know...

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I cannot believe that we're finally going back to England! Well, maybe not permanently, but you get the idea.

As Argus drove the van to the docks, something came up in my mind. "Wait!"

The others looked at me skeptically. "Is something wrong, Sadie?" Carter asked.

"Why don't we just take a portal to London?" I suggested. The others gave approving nods. I mean, it would be faster, and would cost us a lot less of money." It was rather a very amazing idea, and coming from me, I'm pretty sure it is.

"I think she may be right." Nico agreed.

It was a fast ride to the Washington monument, especially with Argus driving. The moment the van stopped, Nico threw the doors open, leaped out, and practically kissed the ground. "Oh land! I am never going to leave you again!" The Stolls cracked up. Percy chuckled, and even Carter had to smile.

I rolled my eyes. Nico could be such a child sometimes. But thank the gods that he's cute and adorable, so that balances things out a bit. In front of us, the Washington Monument stood in all its glory. The largest collection of Egyptian power anywhere on the US, disguised as a normal tower.

I started working on the portal. It was rather annoying having to guess when the next auspicious moment was. Although Zia had taught it to us, it was mainly Carter who memorized all those dates and times. Me? I just stared off into space, or dozed off. Contrary to belief, I'm _not _a human Wikipedia.

"Finally. Just about time." I muttered under my breath as soon as a portal opened. I wasn't sure what the consequences were for opening a portal at inauspicious moments, but since nothing has happened to me yet, I really didn't care.

Carter stood up from where he was sitting. "Took you long enough." he taunted. "You know that the last auspicious moment was just a few minutes ago, right? You could've opened the portal then."

"Well, I'm not a human Wikipedia, unlike you, so shove off." I huffed, and noticed my boyfriend. I walked over and pulled Nico up, who was still hugging the ground like a moron. "Get up, death breath. You're making me look bad."

"I'm never going into that van again!" Nico protested. I looked at Argus, and saw that a few of his eyes were red. A tear leaked out on the eye on his forearm.

"Look at what you did. You've hurt Argus's feelings." I said. Nico muttered a quick sorry to Argus. Truthfully, I agreed with him. Argus drove like a maniac, even worse than Bast.

"Come on." I hissed, and dragged Nico all the way to the portal.

When we got to the other side, we were _not _expecting Walt and Zia to be there.

"Hey!" I hugged Zia. "What are you guys doing here?"

"Amos sent us here. He thought you guys might need some backup." Walt explained. He was smiling smugly at the image of me dragging Nico by the collar of his black leather jacket. I quickly released Nico, who straightened his jacket and ran a hand through his messy black hair. Walt glowered at him. Carter, Percy, and the others came through, and were just as mystified like us at the sight of the two magicians.

"Zia, why are you here?" Carter asked.

"It was Amos' orders. We are to provide you with assistance wherever possible." Zia answered. She adjusted the backpack on her right shoulder. After she finished explaining, Carter frowned.

"Go back." Carter ordered. The other looked at him skeptically, but I knew what he was feeling. The prophecy said that five will survive. Right now, there were ten of us, so five were to surely die. And as much as I hated to say it, Carter was right. It was never specified in the prophecy who are the five that would survive, nor was it specified how many will die, so it could just as easily apply to me. The only way we're going to get out of this alive is if only five go, so that only five survive.

"No." said Zia firmly. "I want to help." I had to smile at Zia's answer. Who knew that she could be rebellious too?

"Go back to Brooklyn House. That is an order by your Pharaoh!" Carter demanded. Zia cringed at his voice. I was just as equally shocked. Carter had never screamed at her for once in his life. And he _never_ ever used the "Pharaoh" title before, even when I grabbed the remote from him when he was watching the telly. This was like a whole new Carter in front of our eyes.

"I 'm sorry my lord, but the Chief Lector's orders-"

"-does not overrule mine." Carter cut her off. "Look Zia, I appreciate you coming for us and all that, but it's just too dangerous."

Zia scoffed. "Dangerous? Carter, how many times have you dragged me into dangerous situations before? And how many times have we made it alive?"

"Barely!" Carter said.

"But we lived." Zia argued.

"Yeah, and how many nightmares have you had about that?" Carter asked. It was not a normal thing to find them both arguing over something so trivial. Don't tell Carter I said this, but they make a perfect couple. Seeing them mad at each other…well I just couldn't take it.

I broke the two apart. "Let her come." I said. It was the most obvious choice, and Carter will just have to see it.

"No. She will return to Brooklyn House, and that is final." Carter ordered. Then he glowered at me. "And if you argue, I will order you to return with her!"

"You wouldn't." I dared him. Annabeth tried to calm us down, but Carter was really pushing me over the edge with his stubbornness. I can get why he wanted to get Zia to go back, but why me? I pursed my lips.

"Try me." He said smugly. My hand was drifting closer and closer to my wand. I already had half a mind to just ha-di him to get him to think straight.

"Guys, enough." Walt said. He had his arms crossed. "Carter, just let Zia come. If things start to get dangerous, I'll bring her back to Brooklyn House."

Carter scoffed. "Nice plan Walt, only there's one little thing you missed: you're going back too. Now."

"What?" Walt said. "Oh come on Carter. Stop treating us like trainees. We've survived the end of the world once. I think we can do it again."

"Actually, that's pretty good argument." I said, glancing to Walt.

"That and you're both too stubborn to give in." Nico muttered. Carter bit his lower lip, and took deep breaths, like he was going to regret what he was going to say next.

"Fine." Carter said, looking up at the sky. "But if there's any trouble, I want both of you on the next portal to Brooklyn ASAP, got it?" he stabbed a finger at Walt's chest.

"Got it." Walt nodded.

"Ah, London." I said, changing the topic. "I missed this place." I twirled around on the pavement, spreading my arms wide.

"Well I didn't." Carter huffed.

"That's because you don't have a life, brother dear." I joked.

"Hey!"

"Come one, let's go to Gran's!" I started walking away, but noticed that nobody was following me. I turned around. "Well, are you guys coming or not?"

"I told you before, we're not on vacation." Carter said. I stomped back towards him. "But you promised!"

"I said we will go. I didn't say that all of us will go together." He said.

"But at least let me bring Nico." I pulled Nico closer. The poor boy stared at me curiously, before looking at Carter like he was saying, _help me._

"Alright. So Zia, Nico, and Sadie will go to our grandparents." He spat out the word grandparents with loathing. "Me, Travis, Connor, and Diana will go look for Rachel. Percy, you go with Walt and Annabeth, and search for any signs of Hyperion or Atlas."

"A plan worthy of Athena." Annabeth commented. Carter smiled at her and muttered, "Thanks."

"Wait, aren't you coming with us?" I asked Carter. He shook his head firmly.

"No. your grandparents hate me, and the feeling's mutual." I noticed that he said _your_ instead of _our_. So okay, Gran and Gramps may have been harsh on him, but they are still his grandparents!

But Carter was really determined to avoid Gramps. He grabbed Diana's hand, and walked off. He probably didn't even notice Diana blushing as he pulled her through the streets. Annabeth gave me a confused look, before following them.

"Okay…" this was getting too uncomfortable. Before anybody could ask, I grabbed Nico's hand, and pulled her to Gran and Gramp's flat. Zia ran after us.

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Okay, I lied.

I didn't really have a dreamless sleep last night, but more like a vision that was so mentally scarring that I didn't want to talk about it.

_I was on top of a hill, overlooking some sort of temple. Monsters were gathered around it, forming ranks like what people in those Roman movies would do. I made my way over to the door. Strangely, the monsters didn't seem __to notice me, so it was fine by me. A large statue of a man holding a scythe was in front of the temple, like a guard. As I looked closer, I noticed some recognizable features: the chiseled face, like Artison's, and __the solid facial features, like mine. There was an inscription at the base. I kneeled down, and noticed that it was _not_ written in English, but more like some alien language or something. When I concentrated on the letters, they flew around like a couple of flies, and suddenly, I could understand them: _Kronos, Lord of Time.

_This was my dad? I looked up, and stared in awe at the figure. My father…_

"_Is it done yet, Khaemwaset?"_

_I peered around the statue, and saw four shadows moving along the wall. I crept towards them, keeping in mind that somehow, they couldn't see me. I ducked behind a large, wide pillar, and peaked at them._

_The two people who led the attack at my school were standing around a large stone table, where the man that Sadie called uncle Vinnie was hunched back over, like was reading something. I peered closer, and saw that he was actually listing off something from a very old scroll. I wondered how someone so transparent could hold a pencil?_

"_Done." He announced. The man in the golden armor, William, no…what did Percy call him, Hyperion, or something? That's probably right. Hyperion, grinned evilly._

_The other man, who I was assuming was Atlas, simple nodded in approval._

_The uncle Vinnie spectre kept shifting uncomfortably in his position. "But my lords, the ingredients…"_

"_Is something wrong, Setne?" atlas asked innocently._

_Setne cleared his throat. "Well, this is a little hiccup, but surely it won't affect the outcome…much."_

"_What?" Hyperion bellowed. "There is no room for error, Khaemwaset!"_

"_Of course my lord, but" – Setne glanced at what the list again – "one of the ingredients calls for the Sheut of the earth, since the scythe that you seek is hidden in it. And frankly, I have absolutely no idea how to get it." If ghosts could sweat, I swear Setne would be filling buckets by now under Hyperion's glare._

"_Is that all?" Atlas asked. I was amazed at how this guy was so calm about this._

_Setne turned to him. His whole form flickered, like he was shaking in fear. "No, my lord. There is one more ingredient that is nearly impossible to get hold off." He pointed a finger at the last item on the list._

_Hyperion looked at it, then he was back to glowering at Setne. "The feather of truth?"_

_Setne nodded. "To make sure that the spell's accuracy is a hundred percent. But that is always guarded by Anubis, and he never lets it out of his sight. Well, except for that time with the Kane girl."_

"_Please tell us what are all the ingredients that you need." Atlas said._

_Setne cleared his throat. "Uh, yes. Well, there's the sphinx's nose, anything with the same essence as the item you seek, the earth's shadow, a worthy sacrifice, and the feather of truth."_

"_The sphinx's nose we can get easily. The essence, our dear nephew will be more than happy to oblige. The earth's shadow" – Atlas looked at Hyperion – "I doubt mother Gaea will be very happy if we take her shadow, even if she is sleeping."_

"_If I may, my lord." Setne interrupted. "There is an Egyptian earth deity named Geb. His shadow could compensate for the Earth's shadow, but he is extremely hard to capture."_

"_Leave the impossible things to us. We have done more seemingly impossible things than capture someone who is supposedly hard to capture. Right, brother? " Hyperion said. _

"_Hmmm…earth…maybe we could do that, but it would take a lot of power…" Atlas mused, ignoring Hyperion. Finally, he looked up. "The last item. I have an idea."_

"_What?" Hyperion asked. Atlas turned to Setne._

"_You did say that Anubis gave it once to the Kane girl, am I right?"_

"_Yes, my lord." Setne answered._

_Atlas smirked. "Then maybe he'll be willing to give it again, in exchange for her."_

"_Should I send someone to capture her, my lord?" Setne asked._

_Atlas waved him off. "No need. I already have two someones stationed there. Two monsters with a grudge on Perseus Jackson, and willing to kill anyone standing in their way."_

"_If we get all the ingredients, will you be able to do the spell?" asked Atlas._

"_Setne bowed. "Of course, my lord. But there is still a "worthy sacrifice". I have no idea what that was, even though I'm the one who wrote it."_

"_It could mean a virgin." Hyperion suggested. "Remember Ancient Greece?"_

_Atlas nodded thoughtfully. "Ah yes. They used to sacrifice virgins to us. Good times, good times."_

"_Er, if I may, where will we get a virgin?" Setne asked._

_Atlas snapped his fingers. Two Cyclopes marched in, carrying a red-haired girl between them. Her clothes were torn and tattered, and her skin was cut deeply in places. Her skin was ghostly pale, and I doubt that she could be a daughter of Hades._

"_The Oracle?" Setne asked with glee. "Where on earth-"_

"_England, as weird as it seems." Atlas answered. "I thought that we needed to have our share of prophecies too. Now come, brother, we must plan."_

_Then, I was whisked away into another room. Ariston was lying in one corner, bleeding in places. He had definitely looked better when I last saw him. His head was hung low, and his skin was pale. He was still in his prom dress, but one of his shoes were missing. The white long-sleeved shirt was now covered in red splotches._

_Blood._

_I started hyperventilating at the sight. Seeing blood always does that to me. The doctor said that it was permanent trauma from what I saw when our mother died. A dracaena came into the room, carrying some sloppy food-like thing. He tosses it to my brother, who didn't even look up at her._

"_Eat." She ordered, and left without another word. Ariston just pushed the food away, and for the first time, I noticed the stack of food lying there._

_Before I could even check on him, or go close, something tugged at me from behind, and I was whisked away, again._

I never told them that dream. I figured that this quest would only be in vain, since the enemy had there Oracle at their base.

"So, here we are-what in Horus?" Carter said.

We looked at the house in front of us. A large white Colonial was burning to the ground, with no one even there to stop it. I could make out the words DARE in the front gate, but that was it, since half the gates were smashed in.

"Rachel!" Carter called. He charged straight for the mansion. Connor and I looked at each other, before following him to the mansion. Behind us, Travis was yelling logical things like "Stop!" and "We'll die in there!', but I was too preoccupied to care.

Carter pulled out the candy cane stick, and yelled, "_Was_!"

A jet of water surged out of the stick, and hit the door of the mansion. It put out the surrounding fires, but it wasn't enough. The flames kept creeping on us like bugs.

"This isn't working." Cater muttered. He turned towards us. "Guys, I need you to stay behind me."

I was about to ask why, when he suddenly grew twenty feet high. A shell of something like Jell-O surrounded him, glowing gold. He smashed the doors apart, and we followed him directly from behind.

I quickly searched every room, even though I already knew that we wouldn't find this Rachel anywhere. Then, as I passed a room, I noticed a human form lying on the ground. I skidded to a stop, and looked again.

A forty-year old man was trapped under a chunk of the roof. He was bleeding from a cut on his forehead. I rushed over.

I tried lifting it by myself, but it was too heavy. "Carter!" I called out. "There's someone here!"

He came into the room, his golden glowing shell still surrounding him. When he saw the man, he immediately checked to see if he was still breathing. When he saw that he was, he relaxed. "Okay, I'll lift this up, and you get him from underneath." he said. I nodded my head.

With a grunt, carter managed to life the concrete slab a couple of inches, just enough for me to drag the man out. Carter returned to normal, sweating.

"We need to get out of here." He said. "The place might collapse any second."

As soon as he said that, a marble column cracked. The room started shaking.

"Nico going, Sherlock. You just had to jinx us." I huffed.

He rolled his eyes. "Just help me get him out."

Funny how we're here, almost about to die, and we still tend to act like it's normal, right?

Of course, our luck just had to be _that_ bad. Just as we reached the door, the front supports _just had_ to collapse. Behind us, the entire building started to fall in on itself.

"Stand back." Carter ordered. He took out the candy cane stick again. "_Ha-di!_"

The concrete chunks blocking the door exploded. I threw the doors open, and ran outside. But when I looked behind me, Carter was nowhere to be found.

**Okay, that's it.**

**I was thinking of new enemies for them, one that aren't found in the books.**

**Choose which ones:**

**- ****Mormo****, a vampiric creature who bit bad children**

**- ****Lamia****, a vampiric demon which preyed on children**

**- ****Amphisbaena****, a snake with two heads, one at each end of the body**

**- Alops, a Sicilian giant, slain by Dionysus **

**- Anax, a Lydian giant**

**- Ethiopian ****Cetus****, a sea monster sent by Poseidon to ravage Ethiopia, which was slain by Perseus**

**Next chapter: Percy trashes London, and Hyperion and Atlas start their plans.**


	16. Liz and Emma, Meet Nico

**Probably my last update for the week. Enjoy!**

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"So, how did you find us?" I asked Zia. It had been bugging me for minutes now. How could they have known where we will appear, exactly?

"Oh…" Zia rubbed her arm. "It was rather fun actually. Amos and Chiron got into a heated debate as to where you two will go, and ended up replaying what happened in the First Nome a year ago."

"What happened?" I asked, perplexed.

"They uh, had a fight."

Just imagining Amos getting into a fistfight with a horseman made me snort. "Seriously?" And Amos had the nerve to scold us not to fight whenever Carter and I were at each other's throats? When I see him, I'll give him a piece of my mind. But then, maybe I could use this as blackmail material to force Amos let us have WiFi inside the mansion. I smiled evilly at my idea.

We rounded a corner, and finally came face-to-face with my old home. "Well, here we are. Home sweet home." I ringed the doorbell. Two sets of feet were heard as they went down.

"Coming!" A girly voice called, but it didn't sound like Gran's voice. It was more higher, and it was too giggly. Only one other person I knew had that voice, but…that's impossible. They couldn't have known that I was coming. I was so deep in thought to even realize that the door had already opened.

Liz and Emma tackled me in a hug. "Sadie! How are you here? Never mind. Why are you here? Wait, never mind that." Her voice, too fast as always, snapped me out of my trance. I hugged both of them back. "Er, Liz? Emma?"

The two pouted. "Did you forget your friends, Sadie?"

A wide smile crept on my face. It was a blessing to see them again. "Of course not! How could ever forget both of you?"

Behind me, Nico cleared his threat. "Um, Sadie, would you uh, mind introducing us who these people are?" I tried not to blush, I really did. But Liz and Emma are both boy crazy. If they ever found out that Nico is my boyfriend, I would never hear the end of it.

"Liz, Emma This is Zia Rashid." I gestured to Zia, who smiled and waved. "You remember my brother, Carter? Yeah, apparently he found a girlfriend." I nearly choked on those words. I had always thought that it was the end of the world when Carter would finally get himself a girl, and oh look, it nearly did happen.

"Shame." Emma mumbled. "I fancied him too."

"What?" Zia and I both yelled.

Zia scowled. "Sorry, but he's mine." Whoa, jealous much? I guess Zia can just be as overprotective as Carter.

"Okay…" Liz and Emma looked at each other.

Nico stepped forward, and held out his hand. "I'm Nico di Angelo, Sadie's-" my eyes widened.

"Don't!" I covered his mouth, so his words came out as "Umphhumhp." As soon as he finished that, I took my hand away, and sighed with relief.

Nico stuck out his tongue like he was going to throw up. "What was that for?"

I smiled at my mates. "Uh, excuse us?"

"Sure." Liz smiled.

I dragged Nico away, turning back once to see Emma and Zia having a glaring contest. Liz alternated her looks at them, like they were going to start a bitch-fight (don't judge me. I learned it from Nico) any second now.

Once we were out of hearing range, I turned to look at Nico. "Don't tell."

"Huh?"

I crossed my arms. "Don't tell them you're my boyfriend. They'll-" I heard a chorus of squeals from behind a dumpster. Liz and Emma came out, giggling like little girls. I stared like Nico and tried to convey, _see what I mean?_

"Sadie's got a girlfriend!" Liz sang.

"A boyfriend named Nico!" Emma added.

"How did you two get here?" I asked. Liz and Emma shrugged, but they were both still giggling a little. It was my worst nightmare come to life. Great, after this, now I have to turn off my phone for at least 30 years, just to escape their constant questioning.

"We followed you. Duh." Emma said matter-of-factly. Liz nodded smugly.

"What about Zia?"

"Oh, her. She's with your gran." Emma said with a hint of loathing.

We went back to the flat. As soon as we opened the door, I heard Gran's voice call throughout the house. "Sadie, is that you dear?"

"Yes gran, it's me." I called back. "Apparently." I added under my breath.

I went to the kitchen, where Gran smothered me in hugs and kisses. I saw Nico snickering from the corner of my eye, and Zia trying not to laugh.

"Hello dear. Glad you could visit." Gran smiled. "Let's go sit on the living room, shall we?"

Once we were all comfortable on the sofas, Gran started the questions. "So dear, how have you been?" she asked, breaking the silence.

"Oh, fine." I answered nonchalantly, trying to be vague about the reason why I'm here.

Suddenly, Liz stood up. "Sadie has a boyfriend!" she blurted out. I groaned, and Nico facepalmed. Leave it to Liz to set her priorities straight.

Gran clapped her hands. "Oh, wonderful. When can I meet him?"

"Actually, he's already here." I mumbled, but somehow Gran heard me.

"It's not-" her gaze drifted to Nico. "Is it?"

I tried to smile, but my face just turned into a scowl. It felt like Gran was already disapproving, but it just got worse when Gramps entered the living room.

"What's this I hear about a boyfriend?" he asked, taking a seat next to Gran. Beside me, Nico shifted in his seat uncomfortably.

"Oh uh…" I took a deep breath. Might as well get it over with. "Gran, Gramps, I'd like you to meet Nico di Angelo, my boyfriend." Nico stood up, and offered his hand. Gran shook it, smiling in approval, while Gramps just scoffed. He looked at Nico up, down, and sideways.

"He looks like a stoner." He finally said.

I didn't know if I should laugh or frown at that comment. Liz and Emma stared at Gramps, stunned with disbelief. Zia covered her mouth with her hand, and I could tell she was trying not to laugh. Nico scowled, but immediately covered it with a smile. It didn't quite reach his eyes, though.

"Graaammppss!" I whined. Ever since I was little, he would always disapprove of any of me male friends, and now that it's my boyfriend we're talking about, you can tell that I was going red to the roots of my hair.

"Dear, don't be rude." Gran chided. Gramps grumbled something in reply, probably "I'm just saying."

I covered my face with my hands, unable to look at Nico directly. If you look at it from an angle, my Gramps, a possible magician who doesn't know magic, just called the son of Hades, the lord of the dead and the Greek underworld, a stoner. From that alone, it could be easily guessed that this wouldn't end well.

"So Mr. Di Angelo, you have any siblings?" Gran asked. I knew it was innocently, but it hit Nico, hard. He pursed his lips.

"Bianca. She was a hunter. Deceased." He answered simply. See, I've told my friends about the Egyptian myths, which actually took a lot of magic and convincing, but in the end they finally believed me. Emma had even asked if the Greek myths were true, since she thought Apollo was hot, and I didn't answer. Well now, she just got it.

"A hunter?" Gramps scoffed. "Like one of those people who hunt criminal for the money or something?"

Nico shook his head. I could tell he was doing all he could to not rip Gramps' head off his shoulders. He clenched and unclenched his hands, a relaxing trick I taught him. "No sir. She was a hunter of Artemis, an eternal maiden."

Emma and Liz both mouthed _wow,_ while Gran's smile disappeared from her face. Gramps, on the other hand, looked like he was ready to brawl.

"You bring a deranged, psychotic lunatic into our house. How could you, Sadie? He probably just wants to rob us!" Gramps bellowed.

"A what? I would want to what?" Nico asked. I wanted to kill myself right now. If I had known that this was how it's going to end, I would've just skipped this part altogether.

Gramps stood up from his seat, cracking his knuckles. Nico took off his ring, but before he tossed it upwards, I stopped him. "Wait, he's not joking! He's serious!" I said, turning to Gramps.

"Please Gramps, calm down, before his dad gets mad." I said, straining to look for any eyes within the shadows. Hades had visited Nico and me once when we were um…making out in my room, and I almost peed myself. He just came out of the darkness, like the shadows had formed him. "He could be watching us right this moment."

Gramps seemed to notice the sincerity in my voice, or he just probably doesn't want Gran to get a heart attack, so he slumped back down on his seat.

"Thank you." I blew out a sigh of relief.

"Sadie, I tolerate you with that man, Amos, but now, with this boy…you're just pushing it too far." He said.

"But it's true! He's a child of the Olympians!" I said.

Emma was one of the first to get over her shock. "So Sadie, you're saying that he's-"

"A demigod, yes." Nico finished for her. "Nico di Angelo, hero of Olympus, at your service." He stood, and bowed to the two girls.

Then Emma fainted. Liz, on the other hand, looked pretty close too, but she managed to hold on. "Wow. And here I thought that you guys were just myths."

Nico chuckled. "Don't let Zeus hear that. He'll blast this whole building with lightning. He finds that as an insult."

Gran gulped. "So er, Nico. Who's your mother?"

"My mother's dead." Nico answered. "My father is one you'll want to learn more about."

"So who's he, then?" Liz asked in a squeaky voice.

"Me, of course." Suddenly, a pale man in a business suit appeared out of the shadows, just behind where Liz was sitting. Luz must've been too much in shock; that or the man just really creeped her out, because she passed out right next to Emma.

"Who-how-what-" Gramps stuttered.

"Lord Hades, god of the underworld." Hades introduced himself, sitting down on the empty space beside his son. Nico grabbed my hand and held it uncomfortably. I squeezed it in assurance. Hades just glowered at my grandparents. "Now, if I heard correctly, you just called my only son a stoner, deranged, and a psychotic lunatic, yes?"

Gramps shifted uncomfortably in his seat, while Gran gulped. I couldn't blame them. An all-powerful immortal god was sitting right in front of them and on top of that, they just learned that they'd insulted his son. His _only_ son. Those alone would make anybody run off.

Then Hades laughed. A booming sound that was probably hear two flats over. "All correct predictions, of course. And you forgot sadistic, moronic, OCD…" he started listing them off with his fingers.

Nico squinted his eyes at his father. "Really, dad?" he sighed in defeat.

"It's true. Sue me."

"So…he's not… the pale skin, I though…" Gramps started to say.

"His pale skin marks him as my son." Hades informed them. "Now, I must really be off, since I have a dinner date with Persephone, but Zeus wanted me to give this to you, Sadie Kane." He produced a small dagger, the blade about one feet long, and made of pure stygian iron. He handed it to me, but I refused to touch it I learned what this metal can do. And I'd rather not die a slow and painful death, thank you very much.

Hades chuckled. "Don't worry. I had it enchanted so the blade will not suck out your soul." Gran cringed, while Gramps stared horribly at the blade. "But you will need to use it later to free someone from their suffering."

I gingerly held the blade in my hand. "You mean…I'll have to murder someone?" I wanted to give him the blade. I wanted to just ha-di it to pieces. But I doubt that doing those would make Hades happy.

"Murder and mercy are two very different things, my girl. You will find out soon enough." With that, he disappeared in a wisp of smoke.

Nico took the dagger as soon as his father disappeared. "I'm not going to let you murder anyone" he sheathed it in a scabbard on his back. Gran smiled at Nico thankfully, while Gramps just scowled.

"If that was your father, then I wouldn't want to meet your mother." He said.

"Good man." Nico commented. "Persephone is a b****."

"No cursing." I whacked him on the arm.

_-TIME LAPSE-_

That afternoon, Nico had pretty much the best time of his life. Gran accepted him like he was her own soon, just as soon as she got over the son-of-Hades concept. Liz and Emma asked him millions of questions, half of which he was too embarrassed to even answer. They asked questions like "Do you have souls in your underwear?", "Is the underworld really hot?" and Emma's personal favorite, "Is Apollo really _that_ gorgeous?"

We were in front of the door saying goodbye to Gran. Gramps had made up some excuse and went out. He probably didn't want to see us anytime soon.

"Come and visit anytime dear." She kissed Nico's cheek, and Nico shivered at the touch. "And don't mind my husband. He's always like that with boys."

A smile played on Nico's face. "Sure Mrs. Faust. And I'll make sure to bring Sadie along."

I scowled. I definitely did not want a repeat of that happening. Ever. It was just to bloody embarrassing.

As we turned around, I saw a wisp of smoke coming from the direction of Cleopatra's Needle. We ran as fast as our legs could carry us, and we greeted the horrendous scene in front of us. Cleopatra's needle was in shambles, and the surrounding area was littered with spikes. They impaled just about anything in sight: the trees, benches, cars, buses. Cars were burning, and some had already exploded. A couple of police officers were ran through with spikes, and even some paramedics were lying face-down on the ground, a pool of blood spreading below them. There were even tourists, laying on their backs, with spiked jutting out of them like some horrible masterpiece. There were stone statues were erected everywhere, but the faces were contorted in various states of shock, terror, horror, and fear. The entire scene looked like an artist's convention gone awry.

Suddenly, my phone rang. I dug it out of my pocket, and glanced at the screen.

_Carter Kane._

"Hello?" I said, putting it in my ear.

"Sadie? Sadie! It's me, Travis!"

I was shocked. Why would Travis call on Carter's phone? Unless he stole it, of course. His voice was panicking, I could tell.

"Hey, Travis. What's up?" I said calmly.

"Sadie, I'm really sorry."

I was confused. First he was panicking, and now he was apologizing? "Um, okay. For what?"

I ran through possible answers in my head. Maybe he was apologizing for the pranks that he pulled on me two weeks ago. Or maybe they were playing truth or dare, and this was just Travis' dare. Or maybe…maybe…I gulped. Maybe someone had died. I remembered Hades' last words. _Murder and mercy are two different things._

"Hello? Sadie? Are you still there?"

"Um yes…" I answered. I could feel my voice starting to break.

A long silence. Then Travis' voice was heard, and the next eight words he said made to me were ones I'll never forget.

"I'm so sorry Sadie, but Carter is dead."

Wow. That was long. Does this count as a cliffhanger? Anyway, Carter's dead? *le gasp* What happened? C'mon, guess!

Whose POV should I do next: _Rachel's, Carter's, Annabeth's, or Percy's?__**  
**_And are you even reading this story, people?


	17. Carter Makes A Choice

**To all writers that are reading this chapter, I just wanted to share this.**

**If anybody ever asks why the characters in your story are OOC, or Out Of Character, just PM or tell them this straight out, and I quote:**

**"Nobody who's writing fanfiction can write the PJO or TKC characters in character. They're OOC by definition. Only Rick Riordan can do IC."**

**Technically, that's true, right? Well, enough of that. Enjoy!**

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The last thing I remember was smashing the doors open with a Ha-di spell, and ordering Diana to go before me. After that…nothing.

The next thing I know, I was staring at Anubis' face. And he was clearly _not_ happy to see me.

"Ugh…what happened?" I asked, rubbing my forehead. I felt like a truck had just wheeled over me. I noticed that we were on a beach of some sort, deep inside the duat. I could practically hear the power humming through the place.

"You died." Anubis said.

"I died!" I gasped. "How…but-"

"Don't ask me." Anubis said. "I don't know how people die. I just embalm them. Of you really want to know, ask your father."

My dad. Oh no, he's going to kill me for dying. I wondered how ghosts could die…again? "Uh, does he know already?"

Anubis shook his head. "Not yet. But I am planning on telling him later." He looked somewhere far off. "Lord Osiris senses your presence. He is calling for me. Wait here. And do not, under any circumstances, touch that river, unless you really want to go to Lord Osiris and get your heart weighed." He pointed to the River of fire that Sadie and I traveled through once. "But I warn you, Ammit does not like cowards."

With that, he turned into a jackal, and ran off.

"Wait!" I called after him. "I still need to ask you something!"

But Anubis was already gone.

Sadie is going to kill me. Oh wait, she couldn't; I'm already dead.

"He's really impatient, isn't he?"

I turned around, and saw our old chief Lector, Iskandar. He was in _ba_ form, which was basically his human head with a bird's body. I bowed deeply.

Iskandar chuckled. "No need to bow to me, master. It is I who should be bowing to the Pharaoh."

"I was the Pharaoh." I said. "Now I'm dead."

"Oh no." Iskandar said. "Mortally wounded, yes. But not dead. Though you are very close."

"What do you mean? I don't even remember what happened." I strained to remember how I even died, or as Iskandar put it, got "Mortally wounded".

No matter how hard I try, nothing just comes to mind. I felt like if I think even more, my brain was going to pop out.

"Of course you don't." Iskandar said. "You got brained in the head with a piece of concrete so strong that it dulled all your senses. Luckily for you, a piece of the wall kept you from getting flattened. If I'm guessing correctly, those Greek friends of yours are probably in the hospital right now."

My mind was so overloaded with the new information that I had no answer except. "Gah?"

Iskandar sighed. "Forgive me. I'm still not used to your new generation's very limited thinking ability."

I didn't know if that was an insult or an apology.

"The important thing is this: you're still alive, but your soul has already traveled here. You can either choose to go back to your body and face suffering, hardship, and endless difficulties, or you could go to your father" – he pointed to the river with his wing – "and let the others finish your quest."

"But what about Zia?" I asked. "And Sadie, and Walt, and all the others?"

Iskandar considered this for a moment. "Carter, I cannot tell you their exact destinies, as I am only a guard of the lake of fire, but I can tell you this: if you choose to stay here, their ends will come more quickly than predestined."

"What do you mean by "their ends"? Their deaths?"

Iskandar didn't answer. He looked at me one more time, before spreading his wings, and flapping off back to the entrance to the lake of fire

I looked into the river of fire. I was really tempted to just let everything go, and live, er…die, with dad, and…mom.

I took one small step towards it. Then another. And another.

"_Let the other finish your quest." _Iskandar had said. So what if I died? Zia will probably move on, the gods won't care either way (they hate me. I just know it), gran and Gramps will be more than thrilled to see me dead, and not to mention Sadie. Sure, she could be crying and all that, but then again, she would be probably be doing a lap dance at my funeral.

I took one more step. This is it. I could feel the fire burn brighter underneath me, as if the river was accepting me, goading me to continue. _Leave everything behind,_ it seemed to tell me. _It's alright_

I took a deep breath…

**Cliffhanger! I just love them. Well, I'll post another chapter later. (Actually, the next one was supposed to be combined with this one, but it adds to the suspense if I separate them, don't you think?)**


	18. Sadie Finds Out

**IF YOU DON'T KNOW, I POSTED TWO CHAPTERS TODAY. CHECK CHAPTER FIFTEEN (THE CHAPTER BEFORE THIS). IT'S CALLED "CARTER MAKES A CHOICE".**

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After hearing what he said, I almost dropped the phone. Thankfully, I didn't.

"HE'S WHAT!" I screamed into the phone. Oh, this cannot be happening. My brother cannot be dead!

"So, so sorry Sadie, but-" I didn't want to him anymore. Channeling all my rage, frustration, and hurt, I threw the phone on the remains of Cleopatra's Needle. The phone shattered on impact.

Nico gave me an incredulous look. "What's that about? You acted like Carter died or something."

I felt like punching him. He must've meant it sarcastically, but he actually guessed the truth. That sent me breaking down into tears. I've never actually thought about my brother dying, but now that he's dead, what am I supposed to do? What am I supposed to tell Amos and Zia?

Zia put a hand on my shoulder. "What is wrong Sadie? Did something bad happen?"

I wanted to say "No". I wanted to say "Everything's fine". But the only thing that came out of my mouth was a whimper. "Uhuh."

I choked back some tears, but it was bloody useless. It was like my tear ducts broke or something. Nico gave Zia a look, and turned his head back to me. "C'mon, we'll take you back to your grandparents."

The hardest part was knocking. Gran answered the door with smiles on her face. "Oh, hello dears. Did you forget something?"

"Can we please come in, Mrs. Faust? Sadie's not feeling well." Nico answered for me. I was really thankful for that. I didn't know where to get the nerve to tell my grandparents that their grandson is…dead.

Nico guided me to the couch. I sat, bringing my feet up and pulling my knees to my head. Gran opened her mouth to speak, but closed it just as fast. Normally, Gran would go mad at me doing that, but I guess she saw the sorrow on my face, since she didn't say anything else.

Gramps entered the door, and he scowled when he saw Nico, and frowned when he saw me crying. "What did he do, break up with you?" he asked with a sneer.

I shook my head, still looking down. "Carter's dead." I whispered inaudibly. Sadly, Nico heard me, since he was sitting right next to me.

"You're kidding…right?"

I gulped. He was making this very hard for me to accept. I took a deep breath. "Carter's dead. Travis told me himself." I said with a twinge of mourning in my voice, loud enough for all of them to hear.

Zia and Gran gasped. Gramps just shrugged. "Well, I guess I better prepare the coffin." He said nonchalantly.

"Ronald!" Gran said, appalled. **(A/N: I don't know the name of Sadie's grandfather so I just guessed. Harry Potter…**_**Ronald **_**Weasley, haha.)**

"Meh, he probably joined a gang or something." Gramps waved his hand dismissively. I know he took care of me and all, but I am _not_ going to let him tarnish my brother's name!

"You don't know anything!" I shouted at him. "You've treated him as less than dirt for nearly all his life. Did you even know that he saved the world just a few weeks ago from an evil sun-eating snake? Did you know that he is…_was_ the Pharaoh of Egypt, and had both the House of Life and the Egyptian gods at his command? Did you even know him at all? No! You treated him like that just because he looked like dad!"

By the look on Gramps' face, you could tell that I'd hit a soft spot. Gran pursed her lips, but didn't say a word. Then, Gramps frowned.

"Look you," Gramps growled. "I've put up with your antics for nearly six years, and I am not going to any longer!" he gripped the armrest so hard that his knuckled turned wide. Gramps leaned over to me on his chair. "You want to know why I treat him like that? Do you, Sadie Kane?"

He said my name with a hint of loathing.

"Tell me." I said bravely.

Gramps smirked. "I'm sure you want to know. I did not treat him like that because he looked like his father. I treated him like that because his father favored him over you. I mean, his own daughter! Ruby, on the other hand, had loved both of you equally. When she died, I couldn't bear the thought of you staying with you father, so I hired the best solicitors that money can buy to get you to live with us. And I was right. Had we not taken you, your father would've dragged you on a roundtrip around the world, like he did with you brother."

"You don't know anything." I muttered.

"Look here, you ungrateful brat-"

"I would rather that you not call her a brat, Ronald." Said my father, stepping out of a portal behind Gramps. "She is rather sweet when she wants to be."

"Ju-Julius?" Gramps stuttered, shocked. "But you're dead!"

Dad walked over to me, and sat on my other side. "As Osiris, I am both alive and dead." He said.

Gran gulped. "But-the Rosetta Stone-"

"Is fixed." Dad finished. "It was a small miscalculation on my part, but everything turned out well." He turned to Gramps. "And Ronald, I did _not_ favor Carter over Sadie. I merely taught him how to survive in this harsh, cruel mortal world, since he was African-American. Sadie would've been fine, since she inherited Ruby's looks."

"That doesn't mean that you can ignore her!" Gramps protested.

"Don't. You. Dare. Raise. Your. Voice. In. Front. Of. Me." Dad hissed through gritted teeth. Just to prove his point, he sent the spirits of the dead on Gran's flat.

The ghosts circled around my grandparents once, before going back to the ground. Afterwards, both of them were never the same again.

Dad turned to me. "Sadie, you should go to your brother. Take her to the Royal London Hospital, would you?" he asked Gran, who nodded in fear.

A swirling mass of darkness surrounded him. "I must go Sadie. The halls of Judgement cannot stay in order without my presence there to invoke it. But when you get to carter, convince him to live, will you?"

I didn't have time to ask what he meant by that, since he already disappeared.

Gran took a deep breath. "Let's go Sadie." She turned to Nico, Zia, and Gramps. "You three come too."

Diana greeted us as soon as Gran's car came into the parking lot.

"Sadie! I'm so sorry!" She rushed over and hugged me. It was a nice gesture and all, but it was very awkward.

"Where is he?" I asked.

"Room 206. Travis and Connor are already there waiting for you." She answered.

I didn't wait for Nico. I completely ignored the receptionist, and ran straight to Carter's room. Inside, Travis and Connor were arm-wrestling, and Travis lost.

Carter was black and blue. A bandage was wrapped around his head, and a little bit of blood was seeping out. His left arm and right leg were in casts, and tubes were inserted to his nose, helping him breathe. His eyelids were half-open, which gave me the impression that he was looking straight at me.

I ran over, knocking Travis and Connor to the ground, and hugged him tightly. It was probably rude, not to mention against the hospital's rules, but I was never for following rules anyway. I let the tears fall.

Diana leaned against the open door. "What are you crying about? You're acting like he's dead already or something." Nico, Zia, Gramps, and Gran were huddled the other side of the bed.

Gran stroked Carter's hair. "Oh Carter…" she forced a smile. "I'm so sorry. You were a very brave boy…" she choked on what she was going to say next.

Zia was in hysterics, but she took it more gracefully than me. She cried, all right, but unlike me, she didn't throw herself all over him, shouting "CARTER! CARTER! NO!"

Diana groaned. "What's with you guys? He's not dead!"

"What?" I exclaimed, turning around.

"The doctor said he's in a coma, so he's not _technically_ dead." She explained. "Not yet, anyway." I heard her mutter under her breath.

"But Travis told me-"

Diana squinted her eyes at Travis, who was hiding behind his brother. "You didn't. Did you?"

"Uh, maybe?"

"I told you to tell her that he was in the hospital, unconscious! Not DEAD! Ugh, I can't believe I let you tell her!" she tromped over, and gave Travis a god-sized slap upside the head.

"So…he's NOT dead?" I crossed my fingers. Please say yes…please say yes…

"No." Diana confirmed. "Blame these two idiots." She gestured to Travis and Connor. Connor was laughing his head off, while Travis was hiding behind Diana, looking at me for any signs of sympathy.

"I cannot believe-ugh! Why did I believe you!" I marched over, and kicked Travis where it hurts.

Percy, Annabeth, and Walt unexpectedly barged into the already cramped room. "We heard what happened. Have you seen Rachel?" Percy asked hysterically. He looked like he had just gone through a bread slicer,. His Camp Half-Blood shirt was ripped in the middle, and his jeans were tattered. Blood covered his arms.

Diana's gaze went to Percy, or more specifically, his arms, and she doubled over, like she was going to barf. "I can't take this." She wheezed, and ran out of the room.

"What's with her?" he asked.

"No idea." I answered.

Annabeth finally noticed my brother. "What happened to him?"

"A roof fell over." Travis answered, struggling to get up.

"A roof what?" Percy asked.

"Rachel's family's mansion was burning." Connor clarified. "We tried to save everyone who was inside, and Carter got buried under tons of rubble while trying to escape."

"Oh gods, how is he still alive?" Walt asked curiously.

I glared at him. "It sounds like you don't want him to live or something."

Out of the blue, Carter's heart monitor started going crazy. His body convulsed. A team of doctors, nurses, and other people I didn't recognize came running and ordered us out of the room. They closed the door behind them.

"I hope he's going to be alright." Diana said.

"He will be." I gave her a reassuring smile. Carter was a fighter. He will lie. He had to, or else I will go to the underworld personally and kick his arse for dying.

"Wait," Percy realized something. "Was Rachel with you?"

"No." We all shook our heads.

"Then where is she?"

I noticed Diana start fiddling with her thumbs. She had a guilty expression on her face. "Wait, you know where she is, don't you?"

Diana pursed her lips. "I…had a dream."

"Tell us." Annabeth ordered.

After she finished retelling her dream, Annabeth looked like she was going to explode. "You knew all along and you didn't tell us!"

"I'm sorry!" she defended herself. I was sure that it was going to take a lot more than sorrys to get Annabeth to calm down.

"Oh, so you're sorry for wasting our time coming here?" she accused.

"Leave her alone, Annabeth." Percy said.

Then the doctor came out of the room. He glanced at us once, and shook his head.

No…it couldn't be.

**IS CARTER DEAD! YOU'LL FIND OUT NEXT CHAPTER.**


	19. Anubis Makes Me See Sense

**Okay, so nobody reviewed last chapter. Why?**

**C  
A  
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_I took a deep breath…_

This is it. No more problems. No more pain, No more…

"Step away from the river!"

Somebody tackled me from the side, and flung me away from the river's edges. We were both thrown to the rocky beach below. I felt thankful that I wasn't really here, or else that would've hurt.

Anubis was scowling at me in his human form. "Didn't I tell you _not_ to get near that river? Did you even listen to me? Oh gods, I can't believe that you were about to kill yourself…"

I had absolutely no idea what he was talking about. Technically, I was dead, wasn't I?

Anubis dusted himself off. "Seriously Carter. When did you start becoming like Sadie? If I had been late for even a second, that river would've burned your soul up, and not even your _sheut_ could ah, re-boot it. How do you think Sadie will react when she finds out that her brother had the chance to live again, only to throw it away for selfish reasons?"

As much as I hate to admit it, but he was right. "But Iskandar said-"

"Iskandar said that you _could_ leave you problems behind and go step into the river. He did not tell you that it is the only choice." Anubis said. "Lord Osiris has already told Sadie of your situation. He has agreed to let your soul "slip" from his watch and go back to living world. I could escort you back to your body, if you want. I'm ready anytime." He got a faraway look in his eyes. "On second thought, scratch that last part. My senses just told me that your body died. We must return you _now._

"But I protested, giving another long look at the river. I was really tempted to just walk in there. The river just gave me a once in a lifetime escape option, and from the looks of things right now, I'd say that this is really what I want.

Anubis rolled his eyes. "Carter, the river of fire tells you what you want to her, not what you need to hear. It goads you take a step in, and burns your soul at first touch." He explained. "Now come on, before the doctor pronounces you dead and embalms your body."

"But Anubis-"

"You have to go _now_." He insisted. "They will think of it as a miracle."

We approached a set of black doors. "Behold, the Doors of Death. This is actually Thanatos', the Greek god of death. But he hides it in here, and in exchange, we get to use it as we please."

"So, I just go in?" I asked. Anubis nodded.

"Oh, and one more thing Carter. Lord Thoth told me to tell you this: Go to Memphis."

"Tennesee?"

Anubis nodded again.

"But why?"

He shrugged. "I have no idea. But if Thoth tells you something, it is usually of great importance. Now go!" With that, he pushed me through the doors.

**S  
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"No." I whimpered.

"I'm sorry miss." The doctor gave me a sympathetic look. "But we couldn't anything anymore. The brain trauma was just too great. I'm afraid that his body gave up on him. You can see him right now if you want."

I pushed past the doctor, and ran straight for my brother's body.

"Don't you dare die on us!" I screamed in his face. But I knew that he wouldn't hear me. Not anymore.

Instantly, all the degrading insults, cruel things, and sarcastic comments that I've ever told him came flooding back into my head. Oh gods, was I really that mean to him? If only I could ever take it all back.

The steady sound of the heart monitor only deepened the hole his death carved in my heart. I brushed my hands through his curly brown hair. He looked like he could be sleeping.

I liked that idea. He was just sleeping. Maybe he would wake up, and snark at me for crying on his deathbed. But…oh, who was I kidding? He would never wake up, never smile, glare, glower, or talk to me again.

Then dad's final words popped into my head. _"Convince him to live, will you?"_

It was a long shot, but was it really possible? Behind me, Diana, Nico, Gran, Zia, Travis, Connor, and Gramps were standing by a respectful distance; they watched me as I cried my eyes out for him.

I cleared my throat, and tried to stop the flow of tears from my eyes. "Carter," I whispered to his ear in my most relaxing tone ever, "please come back to us. Please, I can't lose the only family I have left. Don't give up, Carter. Please, live. For me."

But nothing happened. He remained stiff, and…deceased. His eyes were still half-open.

Mourning, I closed them. Now, he really could be sleeping.

I turned my back, and trudged back to them, feeling like a failure.

All of them were crying, except for Nico, Travis, Connor, and Gramps. I figured that it would probably look pretty embarrassing for the boys if any of them would cry. Bloody male pride.

A beep rang through the air. Then another, and another.

I stopped in my tracks, straining to hear one more. _Beep. Beep. Beep._

I swiftly turned around, and sure enough, the heart monitor was fluctuating again, and Carter's chest was rising and falling. I cried for joy. Behind me, gasps were heard from both my friends and family, and the hospital's faculty.

"This is a miracle." The doctor commented in awe. "Someone must really love him."

_Yeah,_ I thought._ That or Osiris let him live again._

"Stabilize him. And don't lose him again." The doctor ordered. The men snapped out of their shock, and immediately went on putting tubes on Carter, and doing hospital stuff that I really didn't care about, The important thing was, Carter's alive.

We all sat there outside his room, waiting for somebody, anybody to come out. Nobody talked; the tension was just too great.

Then, the same doctor that went out earlier came out again. "H e'll need to be put in ICU for a couple of days, just so we can check in on any vital organs. But there's a problem with the payment-"

"Put it on my account." A man in a wheelchair said.

Percy seemed to recognize the man. "Hello Mr. Dare."

"Ah, young man. We meet again." He turned to the doctor. "I will pay for the boy's recovery. It's the least I can do after he saved my life."

"Thank you." I said to him gratefully.

Mr. Dare smiled. "You are most welcome. But who are you, his girlfriend?"

"Sister, I clarified." Funny how you can go to all depressed and emotional, to happy and ecstatic, then to downright aggravated all in a few hours. I had always been considered as his friend, cousin, or sometimes even sister (though that rarely ever happens), but this was the first time they ever called me his girlfriend. Me and Carter? NO. BLOODY. WAY.

"Sister." The man repeated, although he didn't seem fazed by this. "Well, once he wake up, give him my thanks."

"Will do." I said.

He wheeled out onto the corridor.

"Let us go dear." Gran said. She turned to the rest of my friends. "All of you too. We can visit Carter tomorrow."

And for the first time that day, I thanked the gods for at least giving me one good thing that day.

**And that's that. I probably won't be updating this for at least another week, since I'll be working on my two other stories, "Slaves For A Week", and "Misconceptions and Misunderstandings".  
Well, review!**


	20. Goodbyes

Hello, my fellow readers, followers, and reviewers.

I'll just cut it to the chase, then….but PLEASE, BEFORE YOU START MAKING ANY DECISIONS, _**READ ALL OF THIS FIRST.**_

I AM QUITTING FANFICTION…FOR GOOD.

I am so sorry, but schoolwork is taking up loads of my time, and I cannot find any more time to continue to update my stories. I want all of you to know how much I want to continue, but I simply…can't. But wait! I said I quit, but _I never said that I'll finish this account._ **I gave it to a close friend of mine, and a fellow writer whom I know will love to continue what I started.** He may, or may not, make a new story, or just continue mine, but all of it's his choice. So please, don't be disappointed. He's a better write than I ever was anyway, at least, in my opinion.

Also, **I gave him permission to change the penname**, so don't be surprised if the stories come under a different name. Anyway, by the time you guys read this, I would've asked him to upload it himself, so anytime the pennname might change. So, to everybody who's reading this…goodbye. And God bless you all.


	21. Hey guys! Surprise!

Hi guys!

Ark here (see…penname…)! Just wanted to let you know that **I will be continuing** the two stories **"Searching for the Heir of the Time Lord"**, as well as **"Misconceptions and Misunderstandings"**, since I can see a good future for those two stories.

Also, I will be making a **new story** titled **"Dreams Unfulfilled"**. It's a PJO/Kane Chronicles crossover.

Summary:

_He didn't know what to do. Save the girl that ruined his life, or stand back and keep his secret? With black eyes matching an indifferent expression, he watched the axe make its way down…and took until the last second before reacting. AU, takes place directly after Last Olympian and The Serpent's Shadow. Heroes of Olympus never happened._

Anyway, I'll probably update about once a week for each story, but it depends on my time. But, I promise you, ONCE A WEEK PER STORY.

Oh, and John (the previous owner of this account) also wanted to say how sorry he is for keeping you guys waiting for nothing like that. He said that you guys are the best, and that you guys don't deserve that, so giving the account away was the better idea. I was so honored he gave it to me.

See you guys in…what was it again? Reviews? Or something…


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